Woman Walks Ahead is now playing exclusively on DIRECTV and opens in theaters June 29.
Biopics need to be balanced to be considered good. Dramatized moments shouldn’t completely overshadow factual events and vice versa. Ideally, a writer/director will want to present as much truth as possible without sedating the audience. This means liberties will be taken to liven up the narrative. While this is an acceptable practice, writers should be careful when choosing which parts of history to change.
This was my sentiment after watching Woman Walks Ahead, the biographical drama about an activist named Caroline Weldon. Looking to pursue a career in art, her story opens with a trip to Dakota in hopes of painting a Sioux Indian faction leader named Sitting Bull. Weldon had painted prominent figures before and believed that his painting could offer up a beautiful truth, changing how some Americans saw him and his people. The only problem with this idea was that most didn’t want to see him as anything but a murderer; her arrival came after several bloody battles. Hard feelings ran rampant despite the cease fire, prompting many of the white settlers to distrust and/or outright hate her. Not only that, but the Dawes Act of 1877 – an ordinance that allowed the US government to abolish tribal land ownership before assimilation occurred – was soon to be signed. Weldon’s timing was awful.
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Biopics need to be balanced to be considered good. Dramatized moments shouldn’t completely overshadow factual events and vice versa. Ideally, a writer/director will want to present as much truth as possible without sedating the audience. This means liberties will be taken to liven up the narrative. While this is an acceptable practice, writers should be careful when choosing which parts of history to change.
This was my sentiment after watching Woman Walks Ahead, the biographical drama about an activist named Caroline Weldon. Looking to pursue a career in art, her story opens with a trip to Dakota in hopes of painting a Sioux Indian faction leader named Sitting Bull. Weldon had painted prominent figures before and believed that his painting could offer up a beautiful truth, changing how some Americans saw him and his people. The only problem with this idea was that most didn’t want to see him as anything but a murderer; her arrival came after several bloody battles. Hard feelings ran rampant despite the cease fire, prompting many of the white settlers to distrust and/or outright hate her. Not only that, but the Dawes Act of 1877 – an ordinance that allowed the US government to abolish tribal land ownership before assimilation occurred – was soon to be signed. Weldon’s timing was awful.
Continue reading…
Continue reading...