Spoon-5 Scott Renshaw of the Charleston City PaperOne of the flagship IMDb user reviews for September dawn is entitled, "Leanr (sic) the history before commenting." I couldn't agree more.To that end, and in the spirit of equal time and hearing both sides of the story, I am providing the following links so that those genuinely interested in what happened; the corresponding historical, social, and religious context; and how the LDS Church feels about it, can read it from an unfiltered source. The articles linked are fully cross-referenced to other LDS and non-LDS works.Statement by the LDS Church: http://tinyurl.com/2f44gow Review of the book and film by Craig L. Foster of BYU's Maxwell Institute: http://tinyurl.com/3n7gumdDon't believe everything you see in the movies.

jerroleens This film doesn't purport to be historically accurate, as far as I know, so I am not going to comment on the way the producers used the history except to say that it reminds me of The DaVinci Code applied to Mormons. Film makers have been using Catholics for years to make their points about religion. Now it's the Mormons' turn, I guess. Aside from that, I would like to point out that the dialogue is sophomoric and often laughable, the plot is predictable and sentimentalist, and the acting is pretty atrocious for the most part. The camera work is quite nice in places. I would have liked to see more landscapes. It would have relieved the boredom. Funny thing. This film reminded me of the LDS Church's docu-dramas. That was amusingly ironic. This movie is pretty much a fail in my view. It would be a fail no matter what the historical subject was.

lastliberal 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.

FightingWesterner 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.