Reviewing: September Dawn by Black Diamond Pictures On September 11, 1857, a wagon train bound for California was attacked in the southern Utah territory. Some 120 men, women, and children were savagely murdered in a matter of minutes in what has come to be known as the Mountain Meadows Massacre. It should have taken its place among the watershed tragedies of American history…and yet astonishingly, this event has languished as a historical footnote—largely ignored, unmemorialized, and unremembered. Then came September Dawn. In the film, a (fictional) romance plot is interwoven throughout a surprisingly accurate historical account of the Mountain Meadow Massacre.

SYNOPSIS OF THE MOVIE PLOT

(If you dislike movie spoilers, skip to the next section.) The film opens with an elderly Brigham Young giving a court deposition concerning the 1857 massacre. Cut to the Fancher-Baker wagon train, a group of happy, optimistic immigrants from Arkansas and Missouri who are crossing the Utah Territory en route to a new life in California.

The wagon train is detained by a group of edgy Mormon Militia, but after consulting with the area’s Mormon Bishop, Jacob Samuelson (a fictitious composite character played by John Voight, and based upon several real historical figures), they are allowed to temporarily camp in a well-watered valley in southern Utah known as Mountain Meadows. It soon becomes apparent, however, that this goodwill gesture was disingenuous at best. The situation starts to develop an uneasy tone as the bishop’s ulterior motives begin to surface. Over the next few days, we see the bishop greedily contemplating the wealth of the wagon train, and fueling the paranoia among his fellow Mormons toward outsiders in general.

Meanwhile, some friendly encounters begin to develop between one of the bishop’s sons, Jonathan, and members of the wagon train...particularly the pastor’s daughter, Emily (also fictitious characters). Jonathan, unlike his father, is a kind-hearted young man, with a rebellious streak that balks at Mormonism’s intolerant dogma. He is disturbed by his father’s attitude toward the immigrants, but is unaware of the violent agenda that is brewing. Jonathan’s friendship with Emily blossoms into a whirlwind romance. So when he learns of his father’s murderous plot, he protests loudly and attempts to thwart the plan. His father, however, orders him caught and put away in chains.

Meanwhile, the Mormon Militia bribe a group of Native Americans to assist them in attacking the wagon train. The militia disguise themselves as Indians, and the group raids the wagon train. The immigrants circle their wagons and defend themselves, believing the attack to be entirely by Indians. Several people on both sides are killed in the attack. After the dust settles, the Mormon Militia approaches the besieged wagon train with a white flag, and offers to escort them out of Indian territory under armed guard, supposedly to protect them from the Indians, on the condition that the immigrants surrender their weapons as a gesture of peace. While they do not fully trust the Mormons, they feel they have little choice, because their supplies are dwindling. So they reluctantly agree to the Mormons’ terms.

The children under seven years of age are ordered by the Militia into a separate wagon, and marched under guard, followed at a distance by the women and older children. Some distance behind them, the men are marched single file. When the women and children are out of sight, an order is given, “Mormons, do your duty!” and the immigrant men are shot and killed at point-blank range. The women and the older children are then ambushed and mercilessly slaughtered by other Mormons who had been recruited for the job. The only survivors are the youngest children who had been separated from the group, apparently with the intent spare them.

As the real-life historical tragedy unfolds, the fictitious character Jonathan manages to escape his chains, but arrives at the scene too late, in time only to have his beloved Emily die in his arms. An infant that she had been trying to protect remained unharmed, and out of a sense of responsibility to protect the little girl, Jonathan resisted the temptation to take his own life and join Emily on the bloody field.

Throughout the movie, we hear excerpts of Brigham Young's inflammatory sermons about blood atonement, superimposed upon a montages of disturbing scenes depicting swift and ruthless Mormon "justice." He is portrayed as giving tacit approval of the massacre before the fact. Nevertheless, the film closes with him denying any involvement, claiming that his intention was to allow immigrants to pass through Utah unmolested. This remains the official LDS Church position on the question to this day.

REVIEWING THE FILM

September Dawn did not make much of a splash at the box office. Yet overall, the movie was fairly well done. The historical aspect of it was the film's strongest point, and in and of itself creates a classically moving tale of treachery and tragedy. The fictionalized human drama added some love and honor to the mix, though not quite as effectively.

My main criticism was that the film tended toward excessive melodrama; the bad guys (the Mormons) were portrayed as thoroughly and one-dimensionally evil, and the good guys (the wagon train immigrants) were almost nauseatingly noble, kind, and selfless. In one scene early in the film, for example, the wagon train's pastor is blessing the Mormons for their kindness (in allowing them to camp); the film then immediately cuts to the Mormon bishop in a prayer meeting, calling down curses on the "gentile" wagon train. If there had been any pretense of objectivity, it was completely lost by this point.

Nevertheless, the historical events portrayed in the film are faithful to the way most historians interpret events leading up to and including the massacre. While the fictional human drama embedded in the storyline seems a little contrived and out of place at times, it seems to be intended to present aspects of Mormonism that are relevant to the events, and it does so quite effectively, if not objectively.

Not surprisingly, Mormon critics accuse the movie of going out of its way to paint Mormonism in a bad light, and it's not an undeserved criticism. The film’s perspective is unquestionably anti-Mormon. It doesn’t hold back when depicting the blood atonement, violence, polygamy, the paranoia toward outsiders, the brutality of the leadership, and so on. Yet it's difficult to say that these things were misrepresented. We are, after all, talking about the ruthless massacre of 120 innocent men, women, and children, at the hands of overzealous Mormons. Even the most generous interpretation of the events casts a dark shadow over the Mormon Church of the day, and its leadership in particular.

There is no direct evidence that implicates Brigham Young in the massacre, so the degree of his involvement probably will always be debated. The Mormon Church generally denies that Brigham Young had anything to do with the massacre, and instead place the entire blame on rogue elements in the far-flung outposts of the Mormon territory.

More objective historians, however, are not so quick to exonerate Brigham Young. When they examine his iron-fisted rule of the Utah Territory, together with his inflammatory sermons and his brutal treatment of anyone who got in his way, one could say that the massacre was at least consistent with his attitudes toward non-Mormons.

Besides, the argument goes, Brigham Young ran a tight ship and very little happened in the territory without his knowledge or authorization. An event of this magnitude would not likely have escaped his notice, much less occurred without his approval. September Dawn's interpretation of Brigham Young’s involvement is therefore consistent with most historians’ take on the question.

So would I recommend the film? Yes, though with some reservations. September Dawn is rated "R" for violence (and only for violence). The rating is well-deserved, although most of it occurs in a relatively short (albeit intense) massacre scene toward the end of the film. The violence, however, is not gratuitous; if anything, it's far less bloody than it could have been, but it was disturbing enough to get the point across. Clearly it's not for young children, and viewer discretion is advised for anyone.

But that said, it does present a substantially accurate portrayal of events leading up to and following the Mountain Meadow Massacre, and for anyone with an interest in the event, it is definitely worth watching.

Reviewed by Scott Johnson

See a short clip about the Mountain Meadow Massacre

Purchase September Dawn at Amazon.com

Visit the official September Dawn Website