Woman Walks Ahead

Caroline Weldon was an artist who, in 1889, traveled to the Dakota Territory with the intention of painting portraits of the Lakota people and working for Indian rights. As usual, the government was in the process of fucking the red man once more by taking most of the reservation to give to white settlers. She became friends with Sitting Bull. You know it will end badly.

I don’t really mind that Weldon is portrayed by the lovely Jessica Chastain, while Weldon herself was homely as a stump. That shouldn’t be a factor. And I more or less enjoyed the movie. But there are limits to the historical changes I can tolerate. Maybe I shouldn’t have read the stuff on Wikipedia, but I did, and the damage is done. I was suspicious, anyway, because there was no mention of the Ghost Dance movement, which was a big factor in the assassination of Sitting Bull. But it seems they cheated on almost all the main facts of the political situation with the Dawes Act, making it seem as if anyone gave a shit about what the Sioux thought of it. As if they had a vote, or something. So I can’t recommend it, it’s just too wrong.