Stunning as a history of family travails

Rating: 8/10 (25 June 2007)

This movie has some of my most favorite actors but that is not why I love the film. It has complexity, drama and warmth of feeling as well as the pathos. The breathtaking scenery be it Montana or Canada is stunning. As a family history it leaves something to be desired (not the happily ever after scenario.) Integrity between the Indian and the white is warming. It almost seems as if the only people that cannot live in harmony are the "white folks" caught up in prohibition and all that meant. The destruction and resurrection of the family is spellbinding. If there was one scene that stands out as I see the film for the second time, it would have to be the Brad Pitt scene when in the battlefields he knows his brother is at risk, flying headlong into battle to save him, only to arrive too late. The agony! Cinematography is exquisite. Anthony Hopkins brilliant as ever.