Truly Dreadful Film

recommended

Excellent but underrated film

Don't listen to the negative reviews

This is a decent movie of the week. It is nothing special like most dramatic movie of the week shows, with a limited budget and some overacting by some of the actors etc. It is a bit too melodramatic at times but it is still believably dramatic because it is based on the real events of Dudley George and the standoff that happened. This is good to watch because it shows a lot of the events that happened during the standoff and we all know what happens but it shows how things got to where they did, and why. I'm not sure how accurate and true the story is because I don't know that much about it but it's a good story with some real drama and you could do a lot worse with your time than watching this made for TV movie.

This was the best portrayal i have ever seen Dakota House do. I think the family of Dudley George should be very proud of this movie which will hopefully bring more awareness to all the wrong doings of our justice system. With more movies about aboriginals being mistreated by the police perhaps it will open up enough eyes to make some good changes to our hypocritical justice system. Could there possibly be a movie in the making about the starlight tour victims??????????????PLEASE!!!In closing, I'd just like to say Dakota House should get a Grammy award for his performance in this movie.....and all the other actors were awesome too....I cried through the last hour!!!

This movie tells it like it was; a justifiably harsh portrayal of police brutality against a much-maligned group of people who were just trying to make a point. It was also a fairly accurate picture of what Native people really are, and that's PEOPLE! They're regular people with problems, jobs, aspirations, hopes and dreams. They are not all drunks and they are not all wise and peaceful medicine men. They think and feel with their hearts, like many of us do.Gordon Tootoosis has a good role, sort of minor, and I feel it was a good thing, letting others into the spotlight. Everyone expects him to be a major player. Not this time.Dakota House plays a good 'angry young man', not quite a Warrior, but had the potential to be one, if he'd lived.I note with interest that two of the movie's key roles have been omitted from the cast at this site. Stephen McHattie plays the senior officer for the OPP, and the actor who plays Kenneth Deane is also not mentioned. Anyone know who he is and why he is not listed here? -Jack-

This was a solid effort that pulled no punches, sort of a docu-drama about one of the darker pages of Ontario history, the shooting of an unarmed Indian protester by the Ontario Provincial Police during the native occupation of Ipperwash Provincial Park on Lake Huron. It seems accurate (from my recollection of the events) and although it perhaps wisely does not attempt to portray Premier Michael Harris, the "tough guy" behind the shooting, it does use an actual clip of him in the Ontario Legislature and it reconstructs an actual phone call which revealed the political pressure that was put on the OPP. It's a gutsy and well done film but I doubt that CTV will be getting any commendations from the OPP. Although their senior people come off reasonably well, those "on the ground" that night come off looking a little worse than storm troopers. This is the sort of thing CBC does well now and then. It's encouraging that CTV now also occasionally runs good Canadian stuff like this instead of its usual diet of US trash. For an Ontario audience the story is quite clear. Elsewhere in Canada and certainly outside the country, it may need a little more backgrounding.