''September Dawn'' is a 2007 Canadian-American

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

film directed by

Christopher Cain Christopher Cain (born October 29, 1943) is an American director, screenwriter, and producer. Cain was born in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. In 1969, he married Sharon Thomas, and adopted her two sons, Roger and Dean Cain, Dean. The couple's daug ...

, telling a fictional love story against a controversial historical interpretation of the 1857

Mountain Meadows massacre A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited summit area, and is usually higher t ...

. Written by Cain and Carole Whang Schutter, the film was a critical failure and box office disappointment.

Plot

The fictional love story between Emily Hudson, the daughter of the wagon train's pastor, and Jonathan Samuelson, the son of the local Mormon bishop, plays out against the build-up to the tragedy itself. The film begins with the deposition of Mormon leader

Brigham Young Brigham Young ( ; June 1, 1801August 29, 1877) was an American religious leader and politician. He was the second President of the Church (LDS Church), president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from 1847 until h ...

. The Baker–Fancher party is then depicted crossing

Utah Utah is a landlocked state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Four Corners states, sharing a border with Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. It also borders Wyoming to the northea ...

on its way to

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. The party encounters a group of Mormon militiamen, who advise them to move on. Bishop Jacob Samuelson defuses the situation but is disturbed to learn that the Fanchers have a woman wearing men's clothing and are delivering racehorses to California to be used in

gambling Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of Value (economics), value ("the stakes") on a Event (probability theory), random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy (ga ...

. He is also upset to learn that some are from

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

, whose inhabitants he blames for the death of

Joseph Smith Joseph Smith Jr. (December 23, 1805June 27, 1844) was an American religious and political leader and the founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement. Publishing the Book of Mormon at the age of 24, Smith attracted tens of thou ...

and for persecuting Mormons. He instructs his sons Jonathan and Micah to keep an eye on them. A scene follows in which the pastor for the Fancher party praises God for their deliverance, while Bishop Samuelson thanks God for delivering the

gentiles ''Gentile'' () is a word that today usually means someone who is not Jewish. Other Groups claiming affiliation with Israelites, groups that claim Israelite heritage, notably Mormons, have historically used the term ''gentile'' to describe outsider ...

(non-Mormons) into their hands for divine punishment. As the Mormon leadership prepares to defend Utah from an attack by the

federal government A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a political union, union of partially federated state, self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a #Federal governments, federal government (federalism) ...

, Samuelson's son, Jonathan, develops a relationship with the daughter of the pastor, Emily. At the direction of Brigham Young, local Mormons are directed to massacre the gentiles using their allies, the Paiute Indians. By pointing to a rival Indian tribe as their mutual enemy, John D. Lee, the adopted son of Brigham Young, convinces the Paiutes that it is God's will to kill the migrants. Jonathan objects to the plan, which his father has just conveyed to the local Mormons, and is imprisoned by his father. Jonathan has become disillusioned by the Mormon faith not only because of the planned massacre, but because of what he allowed to happen to his mother. In a flashback earlier in the film, Jonathan remembers that his mother was ordered away by a senior religious leader who took her as his wife; she returned to get her children, for which she was executed in full view of Jonathan and his father. The Fancher party repels the Indian attack, and the local Mormons are forced to complete the mission themselves. The Mormon militia under the command of John D. Lee is ordered to kill anyone who is old enough to talk. John D. Lee offers to lead the Fancher party to safety; however, they lead them instead to an ambush in which they are all killed. Escaping his imprisonment, Jonathan arrives too late to save them and his lover, Emily, who is killed by his father. John Lee is executed for his role in the massacre in 1877 and Brigham Young denies any knowledge or involvement.

Cast

Jon Voight Jonathan Vincent Voight (; born December 29, 1938) is an American actor. Throughout his career, he has received numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, and four Golden Globe Awards as well as nominations ...

as Jacob Samuelson * Trent Ford as Jonathan Samuelson * Tamara Hope as Emily Hudson *

Terence Stamp Terence Henry Stamp (born 22 July 1938) is an English actor. Known for his sophisticated villain roles, he was named by ''Empire (magazine), Empire'' as one of the 100 Sexiest Film Stars of All Time in 1995. He has received various accolades in ...

Dean Cain Dean George Cain ( né Tanaka; born July 31, 1966) is an American actor. From 1993 to 1997, he played Clark Kent / Superman in the TV series '' Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman''. Cain was the host of '' Ripley's Believe It or Not! ...

* Jon Gries as John D. Lee *

Taylor Handley Taylor Laurence Handley (born June 1, 1984) is an American actor. Early life Handley grew up in Santa Barbara, California. With his parents driving him the 90 miles to Los Angeles for auditions and jobs, he worked as a child actor as a young t ...

as Micah Samuelson *

Lolita Davidovich Lolita Davidovich (born Lolita Davidović; July 15, 1961) is a Canadian film and television actress, best known for portraying Blaze Starr in the 1989 film '' Blaze'', for which she received a Chicago Film Critics Association Award nomination. ...

as Nancy Dunlap * Shaun Johnston as Captain Fancher * Huntley Ritter as Robert Humphries

Production

was prompted to make ''September Dawn'' because of his opinion that religious

extremism Extremism is "the quality or state of being extreme" or "the advocacy of extreme measures or views". The term is primarily used in a political or religious sense to refer to an ideology that is considered (by the speaker or by some implied sha ...

is particularly relevant today. Cain drew on historical records of the massacre, excerpts from speeches by Brigham Young, and the signed confession of John D. Lee, who led the attack. The depiction of the massacre in the film was based on the confession of Lee and staged as he had described it. The film is controversial, representing the view that Brigham Young had a direct role in the massacre, while the

LDS Church The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian restorationist Christian denomination and the largest denomination in the Latter Day Saint movement. Founded during ...

maintains that " e weight of historical evidence shows that Brigham Young did not authorize the massacre"."Mormon Massacre"
,

Robert D. Novak Robert David Sanders Novak (February 26, 1931 – August 18, 2009) was an American syndicated columnist, journalist, television personality, author, and Conservatism in the United States, conservative political commentator. After working for tw ...

, Townhall.com, 3 May 2007; also found a
humanevents.com
, 3 May 2007. Officially, the LDS Church "is not commenting about this particular depiction" of the massacre but has published an article marking 150 years since the tragedy occurred. Screenplay writer Carole Whang Schutter said: "Creating likeable characters that take part in unimaginably atrocious acts is a chilling reminder that terrorists can be anyone who chooses to blindly follow fanatical, charismatic leaders. ..Our fight is not against certain religions ..but'powers of darkness' which are prejudice, hate, ignorance, and fear perpetuated by leaders who history will surely judge by their deeds." Schutter claims that she was inspired by God to write the story. "I got this crazy idea to write a story about a pioneer woman going in a wagon train to the California gold rush, and the train gets attacked by Mormons dressed as Indians ..The idea wouldn't leave me. I believe it was from God."Local pens screenplay about massacre
'September Dawn' to hit theaters in August, by Pete Fowler, '' Aspen Times'', 9 July 2007 She also states that she finds the coincidental date of the massacre – September 11 – to be "very odd" and "strange," but that "people can draw their own conclusions" about the date.

Reception

The film has received generally negative reviews and is considered to be controversial. Based on 57 reviews, the film holds a 17% approval rating on review aggregator website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

with an average score of 3.48/10; the consensus states: "With its jarring editing, dull love story, and silly dialogue, ''September Dawn'' turns a horrific historical event into a banal movie." ''September Dawn'' received a rare "zero stars" review from film critic

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...

,September Dawn
by

, ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...

'', August 24, 2007, as found at rogerebert.com who described it as "a strange, confused, unpleasant movie" unworthy of Voight's talents. The ''

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates three online sites: NYPost. ...

'' gave the film an unusual 0/4. Justin Chang's review for '' Variety'' described it as, "not torture porn; it's massacre porn." Though he realized that the film was meant to draw parallels to the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

, Chang remarked that the film does not "convey any insights into the psychology of extremism, aside from some choice moments in Voight's persuasively complex performance" and that it was "ultimately less interested in understanding its Mormon characters than in demonizing them"; the only praise he offered for the film went to the photography and location scouting done for the film. However, the film did receive some positive notices. Ken Fox of ''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, vi ...

'' gave the film 2.5/4 stars saying the film "sheds some much-needed light on a 150-year-old crime." William Arnold of the ''

Seattle Post-Intelligencer The ''Seattle Post-Intelligencer'' (popularly known as the ''Seattle P-I'', the ''Post-Intelligencer'', or simply the ''P-I'') is an online newspaper and former print newspaper based in Seattle, Washington (state), Washington, United States. Th ...

'' praised Jon Voight's portrayal of Bishop Samuelson stating the character had "a soft brutality that is all the more terrifying for its compassionate veneer." Ted Fry of ''

The Seattle Times ''The Seattle Times'' is an American daily newspaper based in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1891, ''The Seattle Times'' has the largest circulation of any newspaper in the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region. The Seattle Time ...

'' stated, "Religious and thematic issues aside, ''September Dawn'' is well-crafted as a revisionist Western with a message. If the message is muddled, there's plenty of literature to clear the facts — or to make the matter even more bewildering for those seeking truth."

Box office

''September Dawn'' opened in

wide release In the motion picture industry, a wide release (short for nationwide release) is a film playing at the same time at cinemas in most markets across a country. This is in contrast to the formerly common practice of a roadshow theatrical release in ...

on August 24, 2007 and made $601,857 in its opening weekend, ranking number 24 at the domestic box office. By the end of its run two weeks later, it had grossed $1,066,555. Based on an $11 million budget, the film is a

box office bomb A box-office bomb is a film that is unprofitable or considered highly unsuccessful during its theatrical run. Although any film for which the combined production budget, marketing, and distribution costs exceed the revenue after release has te ...

Accolades

Voight was nominated for a

Golden Raspberry Award The Golden Raspberry Awards (also known as the Razzies and Razzie Awards) is a parody award show honoring the worst of cinematic failures. Co-founded by University of California, Los Angeles, UCLA film graduates and film industry veterans John ...

for Worst Supporting Actor.

References

* * ;News coverage
Is film controversial if it isn't seen?
by Jeff Vice, ''

Deseret News The ''Deseret News'' () is a multi-platform newspaper based in Salt Lake City, published by Deseret News Publishing Company, a subsidiary of Deseret Management Corporation, which is owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS ...

'', 2 September 2007
"Patriot Act: Jon Voight understands that America is under attack. Why don't you?"
(John Voigt on September Dawn), Adam Laukhuf, ''

Radar Magazine Radar Online is an American entertainment and gossip website that was first published as a print and online publication in September 2003 before becoming exclusively online. As of 2008, the magazine has been owned by the publisher American Medi ...

'', April 2007
"Movie Examines Violent Religious Fanatacism"
Carrie Sheffield, ''

Politico ''Politico'' (stylized in all caps), known originally as ''The Politico'', is an American political digital newspaper company founded by American banker and media executive Robert Allbritton in 2007. It covers politics and policy in the Unit ...

'', 27 March 2007
"Historian discusses 1857 massacre"
Laura Hancock, ''Deseret News'', 17 February 2007 ;Reviews
'September Dawn' fights fanatics fanatically
by Janos Gereben, ''

San Francisco Examiner The ''San Francisco Examiner'' is a newspaper distributed in and around San Francisco, California, and has been published since 1863. Once self-dubbed the "Monarch of the Dailies" by then-owner William Randolph Hearst and the flagship of the He ...

'', August 24, 2007
"'September Dawn' a campy screen disaster"
by Sean P. Means, ''

The Salt Lake Tribune ''The Salt Lake Tribune'' is a newspaper published in the city of Salt Lake City, Utah. The ''Tribune'' is owned by The Salt Lake Tribune, Inc., a non-profit corporation. The newspaper's motto is "Utah's Independent Voice Since 1871." History ...

'', August 23, 2007
September Dawn
by Justin Chang, '' Variety'', August 21, 2007
"Hollywood's terrorists: Mormon, not Muslim"
by Michael Medved, ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (often stylized in all caps) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth in 1980 and launched on September 14, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headq ...

'', August 13, 2007
"'Dawn' recalls Sept. 11 killings – but in 1857 Utah"
by Martin Grove, ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'', April 25, 2007

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:September Dawn 2007 films 2007 Western (genre) films English-language Canadian films Canadian Western (genre) films American Western (genre) films 2000s English-language films Cultural depictions of Brigham Young Films about religious violence in the United States Western (genre) films based on actual events Films set in the 1850s Films set in 1857 Films set in 1875 Films set in 1877 Films set in Utah Films shot in Alberta Films about the Mountain Meadows Massacre Latter Day Saints in popular culture Films directed by Christopher Cain Films scored by William Ross Mormonism in fiction 2000s American films 2000s Canadian films English-language Western (genre) films