September Dawn Totally Explained

Everything about September Dawn totally explained

September Dawn is a 2007 film by Christopher Cain, released on August 24, 2007. It sets a fictional love story against a historical interpretation of an actual tragedy of the Mountain Meadows massacre of September 11, 1857, when a wagon train of emigrants was attacked by a small group of Mormon militiamen and members of the Paiute tribe; more than 120 men, women, and children were killed.
The movie stars Jon Voight as Jacob Samuelson, Terence Stamp as Brigham Young, and Jon Gries as John D. Lee.

Plot

The fictional love story between Emily Hudson (Tamara Hope), the daughter of the wagon train's pastor, and Jonathan Samuelson (Trent Ford), the son of the local Mormon bishop, plays out against the build-up to the the tragedy itself. The movie begins with the deposition of Mormon leader Brigham Young (Terrance Stamp). The Francher party is then depicted crossing Utah on its way to California. The party encounters a group of Mormon militiamen, who advise them to move on. Bishop Jacob Samuelson (Jon Voight) defuses the situation, but is disturbed that the Franchers have a woman wearing men's clothing and are delivering racehorses to California to be used in gambling. He instructs his sons Jonathan and Micah to keep an eye on them.
A scene follows where the pastor for the Francher party (Daniel Libman) praises God for their deliverance, while Bishop Samuelson thanks God for delivering the "Mericrats" into their hands for divine punishment. As the Mormon leadership conspires to make war on the Federal government and the Francher Party, Samuelson's son Jonathan develops a relationship with the daughter of the pastor, Emily. The Mormons decide to instigate the local Paiute Indians to wipe out the Francher Party. Jonathan objects to his father, confronting him about the plan and the long-ago death of his mother, and is imprisoned. The Francher party repels the Indian attack, and Mormon militia under the command of John D. Lee (Jon Gries) offer to lead the beleaguered party to safety. However, they lead them instead to an ambush where they're all killed. Escaping his imprisonment, Jonathan arrives too late to save them and his lover Emily, who has been killed by his father.
The film ends with John Lee being executed for his role in the massacre in 1877 and Brigham Young denying any knowledge or involvement.

Development

Director Christopher Cain was prompted to make September Dawn because of his opinion that religious extremism is particularly relevant today. Cain drew on historical records of the massacre, excerpts from speeches by Brigham Young, and the signed confession of John D. Lee, who led the attack. The film is controversial, representing the view that Brigham Young had a direct role in the massacre, while the LDS Church maintains that "[t]he weight of historical evidence shows that Brigham Young didn't authorize the massacre". Officially, the LDS Church "is not commenting about this particular depiction" of the massacre but has published an article marking 150 years since the tragedy occurred.
   Screenplay writer Carole Whang Schutter said: "Creating likeable characters that take part in unimaginably atrocious acts is a chilling reminder that terrorists can be anyone who chooses to blindly follow fanatical, charismatic leaders.[...] Our fight isn't against certain religions [but...] 'powers of darkness' which are prejudice, hate, ignorance, and fear perpetuated by leaders who history will surely judge by their deeds." Schutter claims that she was inspired by God to write the story. "I got this crazy idea to write a story about a pioneer woman going in a wagon train to the California gold rush, and the train gets attacked by Mormons dressed as Indians [...] The idea wouldn't leave me. I believe it was from God." She also states that she finds the coincidental date of the massacre - September 11 - to be "very odd" and "strange," but that "people can draw their own conclusions" about the date. It received a rare "zero stars" review from film critic Roger Ebert, and the New York Post gave the movie an unusual 0/4.
   The film has been described by various critics (most or all of whom are not LDS) as "the year's first honest-to-goodness exploitation flick," as "carrying an anti-Mormon agenda," as "some sort of attack piece on the Mormon religion," as "little more than wild-eyed anti-Mormon propaganda," as "a stridently anti-Mormon and cliché-heavy melodrama," as "unbelievably ugly and an insult to Mormons," as "clearly anti-Mormon," as an "anti-Mormon broadside" that's "certain to fan the flames of hatred toward America's largest homegrown religion and continue the persecution that terrified the original Mormons."
   The movie has "the chilling certitude of the self-righteous" that goes beyond "mockery" and is "practically a call to jihad [againstMormons]." It "equates the institution of the Mormon church with Islamic extremism at every opportunity," it's "propaganda pure and simple," is "filmmaking at its worst...full of propaganda," and that there's an "unmistakable air of evil about this enterprise, and not just an atrocity the Mormon church caused to happen 150 years ago" Linda Cook of the Quad-City Times calls the movie "interesting." Ted Fry of the Seattle Times writes that the movie is a "mix of poetry and polemics" that despite "theocratic elements that come unnervingly close to the spirit of Mormon-bashing" is nevertheless "a mildly effective dramatic tale of period Western strife." Pete Hammond of Maxim gives the movies 2½ stars, saying that Cain has made "a pulse-pounding movie experience reminding us that a terrorist act can happen anywhere, anytime, by anyone." David Tianen of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel writes that the script's "great strength" is that Voight's character, Samuelson "is a zealot who behaves logically within his own belief system" in that he believes in "a theology that sees non-Mormons as wicked and degenerate." Consequently, "when Bishop [Samuelson] says things like 'May these children of Satan go to hell,' or, 'We have been honored above all others to be the chosen instrument of death," the hatred is more than mere craziness.
   In a piece written for FrontPage Magazine, Ken Eliasberg states that: "I found the film to be artistically pleasing, theatrically well done, and, based on my less-than-exhaustive research, historically correct. [...] While the Mormon hierarchy denies any effort to directly or indirectly sabotage the film, it seems possible much of the criticism dealing with the film is derived from some common blueprint. [...] I hope that this notion is mistaken, and that there's no effort on the part of the Mormon establishment to do this film in. If there's such an effort, I've to believe it emanates from certain individuals who are acting on their own, who have so little faith in the power of their religion that they think a mere film about one isolated historic incident could do it harm."

Mitt Romney

The movie came out at a time when Mormon Mitt Romney was running for U.S. President, which brought the Mormon religion further into the spotlight. Robert Novak speculated that September Dawn is an attempt by Hollywood to negatively influence Romney's candidacy, and Roger Ebert echoed this possibility in his later movie review. Director Christopher Cain has denied this, saying he hadn't heard of Romney when he began work on the film 2½ years prior.

Further Information

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