People are voting emotionally.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

First, the good: The movie was well acted and the settings were excellent. The subject matter is very interesting and historically valuable. This is why I can rank it a 2. But, the good really ends there. The wagon train traveling through Mormon Territory is portrayed as honest, humble, righteous, God-fearing people in need of support for their journey to California. In contrast, the Mormons are portrayed as lying, evil hypocrites who are easily identified by their ominous black clothing! Everyday Mormon members are portrayed as innocent dupes of evil local Mormon clergy. Seriously! While the Mormon Bishop is nice to the wagon train in person, he is bent on their destruction when with his community.The historical record and reality of the Mountain Meadows Massacre is easily available to all who are interested and clearly shows a much different and far more nuanced story. This film is nothing more than anti-Mormon propaganda. This is very unfortunate as this impact-full event, even if told from a perspective unfriendly to Mormon people, should have relied more on the historical record and should have reached for honest, historical accuracy. This story needs to be told and this movie had the potential to do that and do it well! However, the writer or writers obviously used this tragedy as an excuse to make an anti-Mormon film. What's worse, the film is an insult to the Baker–Fancher emigrant wagon train members who perished. I'm sure they would not want their tragedy to be used in such a demeaning an irresponsible manner. Their lives and deaths deserve much more than this.

Religious fanatics exist everywhere: Mormons in 1857, Christians in the Crusades, Irish Catholics & Protestants, Muslim fundamentalists; no time in history has been without the fanatics, and they exist today.It has been said that more people have died in the name of religion than in all the wars. It should be obvious that that is, on it's face ridiculous. However, the fact is that many people have been killed in religious conflict as this case here that is documented in history. The fact that it is true should not mean it is not to be told. The fact that is is a church involved should not give a pass. Death is death and bigotry is bigotry. We see both here in spades.Jon Voight and Terence Stamp portrayed the hatefulness of the fanatics better than anyone I could imagine. Trent Ford was excellent as the son who could not accept that death was the answer. Tamara Hope was also excellent as the "gentile" woman that Trent loved.The was a beautiful film about love and gentleness amidst evil and hate. It is nothing new, but it was done beautifully.

September Dawn is a dark tale of frontier fanaticism, paranoia, and rage. I'm not quite sure what message the filmmakers are trying to convey. Is the film anti-religion or anti-Mormon, or is it both?To me (and maybe I'm just reflecting my own views) it seems like an allusion to radical Islam as the date of September the eleventh is prominently highlighted and in one scene a fanatical Mormon invokes the name of Mohammed. Jon Voight's speech to his son about being saved by John Smith parallels that of the recruitment of suicide bombers. The manipulation by church leaders seems very much in keeping with modern events. Then again, Hollywood doesn't seem smart enough to disguise a critique of modern radical Islam as a movie about radical 1850's Mormonism!Jon Voight and Terence Stamp give powerful performances and the actors that play the teenage characters are good as well. One scene I thought was exceptionally chilling was the one that contrasted the hopeful prayers of the grateful settlers with the angry hate- filled (Islamic?) prayer of Voight.Watching the ambush scene, It's easy to see why the LDS are angry with their depiction in the film. Despite being an exceptional drama, I'm not sure about the film's assertions about Brigham Young (I wasn't there) but I think that there should be real evidence (not just suspicion) before a person is possibly slandered.

The breakdown of ratings for this movie is revealing. 20% hate it. 20% love it. Most others rate it as pretty good. It is pretty good. Well acted and well-paced, beautiful scenery. I thought the love story was touching as well as the relationship between the two Mormon brothers. John Voight was Amazing! It's got some pretty brutal scenes. This is NOT a movie for young children. As far as anti-Mormon bias... I don't think there is any more anti-Mormon bias in this movie than there was anti-German bias in "Schindler's List". The movie doesn't purport to be a documentary. So it's not like an Oliver Stone or Michael Moore production. In summary, I think it's a thought provoking movie that will make people actually want to do a bit of research on the true events of Mountain Meadows.