|
500 Nations | 
| Actors: Kevin Costner, Gregory Harrison, Eric Schweig, Gordon Tootoosis, Wes Studi
Studio: Warner Home Video
Category: DVD
List Price: $49.98
Buy New: $26.99
You Save: $22.99 (46%)
Rating:  54 reviews
Sales Rank: 3168
Format: Box Set, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dvd-video, Subtitled, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled)
Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number Of Discs: 5
Running Time: 372 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.5 x 1.1
MPN: WARD4577D
ISBN: 0790798832
UPC: 012569457720
EAN: 9780790798837
ASIN: B0002S65WC
Theatrical Release Date: April 20, 1995
Release Date: September 21, 2004
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
| |
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 09/11/2007 Run time: 372 minutes
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
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 49 more reviews...
 Brings History alive October 30, 2008
V. McCarthy (Seatac, Washington USA)
This documentary is so fantastic, I hardly knew that it was one. The photography is brilliant, and it is a well written factual film. It makes you feel what the Indians mush have felt at the injustices they suffered. 500 NationsKevin Costner did a fantastic job, as did the rest of the crew. I actually felt like I was on the Trail of TearsThe Trail of Tears: Cherokee Legacy, and at Wounded KneeBury My Heart at Wounded Knee. I now have a much deeper respect for my ancestors, well at least the Red ones.
not happy September 28, 2008
Heather Thompson
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I can't review this product because it is a month since I ordered it and I still don't have it..
I have written I have phoned..
Could someone out there tell me where my "product" is..the money sure came out of my account fast enough...!!!!
Not a happy customer.
Heather Thompson
500 Nations gives a good overview July 30, 2008
History-Social Studies Teacher (San Francisco, CA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
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! May 29, 2008
R. J. Martinez (Portage, Mi. USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
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 May 18, 2008
M.Corrine P (Delaware)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
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.
|
|
|
| |
