Starring: Kevin Costner, Gregory Harrison, Eric Schweig, Gordon Tootoosis, Wes Studi Directed By: Jack Leustig Average Rating: Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated) Binding: DVD Format: Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Subtitled, NTSC Label: Warner Home Video Number of Items: 5 Region Code: 1 Release Date: September 21, 2004 Running Time: 372 minutes Theatrical Release Date: April 20, 1995
Description: 500 Nations is an eight-part documentary that explores the history of the indigenous peoples of North and Central America, from pre-Colombian times through the period of European contact and colonization, to the end of the 19th century and the subjugation of the Plains Indians of North America. 500 Nations utilizes historical texts, eyewitness accounts, pictorial sources and computer graphic reconstructions to explore the magnificent civilizations which flourished prior to contact with Western civilization, and to tell the dramatic and tragic story of the Native American nations' desperate attempts to retain their way of life against overwhelming odds.
DVD Features: Featurette Introduction Other
Amazon.com: With six episodes spread out over four discs and a running time of well over six hours (in addition to an interactive CD-ROM filled with extra features), director-producer Jack Leustig's sprawling 500 Nations, a history of Indians in North America, is likely the most comprehensive effort of its kind ever undertaken.
Mention the word "Indian," and most will conjure up images inspired by myths and movies: teepees, headdresses, and war paint; Sitting Bull, Geronimo, Crazy Horse, and their battles (like Little Big Horn) with the U.S. Cavalry. Those stories of the so-called "horse nations" of the Great Plains are all here, but so is a great deal more. Using impressive computer imaging, photos, location film footage and breathtaking cinematography, interviews with present-day Indians, books and manuscripts, museum artifacts, and more, Leustig and his crew go back more than a millennium to present an fascinating account of Indians, including those (like the Maya and Aztecs in Mexico and the Anasazi in the Southwest) who were here long before white men ever reached these shores.
It was the arrival of Europeans like Columbus, Cortez, and DeSoto that marked the beginning of the end for the Indians. Considering the participation of host Kevin Costner, whose film Dances with Wolves was highly sympathetic to the Indians, it's no bulletin that 500 Nations also takes a compassionate view of the multitude of calamities--from alcohol and disease to the corruption of their culture and the depletion of their vast natural resources--visited on them by the white man in his quest for land and money, eventually leading to such horrific events as the Trail of Tears "forced march," the massacre at Wounded Knee, and other consequences of the effort to "relocate" Indians to the reservations where many of them still live. Along the way, we learn about the Indians' participation in such events as the American Revolution and the War of 1812, as well as popular legends like the first Thanksgiving (it really happened) and the rescue of Captain John Smith by Pocahontas (it probably didn't).
With its sometimes New Age-y music and many beauty shots of the great outdoors, 500 Nations has a rather different vibe than the average Ken Burns documentary. That may lessen its value for sober historians, but for the rest of us, this is an illuminating and important work. --Sam Graham
500 Nations gives a good overview I use this collection in my middle school classroom to help teach about what the Americas were like before Europeans. With current educational pressures, many students do not receive the basics in American history/geography/social studies; 500 Nations helps correct this error. Discussions by people from these nations give the non-European perspective of our shared histories. The CGI are well-done and gives the viewer a glimpse of what these socitieis were like. Factual, entertaning, and engaging; I would recommend it to any teacher.
Every American should view these! These DVD's are some of the best I have seen from the Native American point of view. It follows the history of North American Natives as they saw it. If all you get out of these is that there was a bunch of killing and enslavement than you missed the point.
What a tragedy the Natives endured. What an injustice that took place to such a peace loving and nature loving people. This wrong can never be made right. The saddest part of it all is the life the Natives are left with today.
These DVD's are just the first chapter of a sad commentary about the Natives. This commentary is still going on.
Native American History Reborn This is an awesome Movie. I watched the entire movie (4 dics) in one sitting. It is a great way to dispel myths about how the West was settled and how the Native Americans responded to being driven from thier lands. It provides an overall picture from both the Indians and the Invaders. Great Addition to any Library.
excellent documentary This is an excellent documentary. Kevin Cosner is great and the history of the Native American people is well presented. I loved the CG images of what they think the villages and ruins looked like when they were in use. A must see documentary if you love Native Americans.
How 80% of native American indians died According to the native american historians in this documentary series, it was through smallpox, scarlet fever, etc. that white europeans passed on to them. It was not through massacre and bloodshed. Yes, massacre and bloodshed did occur against indians. However, only in the thousands total. Not the millions that the european diseases caused. So please, stop hyping up the Holocaust that never happened. Keep in mind that indians won many of those battles and they too instigated massacres against whites. Whites back then didn't have high tech weapons. They had guns but so did the indians.
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