Few motion pictures have generated the interest of the Latter-day Saint community like "September Dawn," which was released this weekend. Following are excerpts from reviews by film critics around the United States:
My opinion is that there isn't anything to be gained in telling this story in this way. It generates bad feelings on all sides, and at a time when Mormons are at pains to explain they are Christians, it underlines the way that these Mormons consider all Christians to be 'gentiles.' The Mormons are presented in no better light than Nazis and Japanese were in Hollywood's World War II films. Wasn't there a more thoughtful and insightful way to consider this historical event? If there is a concealed blessing, it is that the film is so bad. . . . I am trying as hard as I can to imagine the audience for this movie. Every time I make any progress, it scares me. — Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Lovers often face potential in-law problems, but this one, in the historical setting of the infamous 1857 Mountain Meadows Massacre, is insurmountable. 'September Dawn,' written by an evangelical Christian, may be the worst historical drama ever made. Not because it is about to offend one of the country's fastest growing religions — Mitt Romney, beware — but because in placing a glib romantic fable at its center, it trivializes one of America's ugliest and least understood events. — Jack Mathews, New York Daily News
'Inspired' by a dark chapter in American history, 'September Dawn' presents a ham-fisted cautionary tale of religious fanaticism that would have been hooted out of even 19th-century theaters as melodrama of the most lurid kind. — Chris Kaltenbach, Baltimore Sun
Even if one gets past the movie's controversial depictions (which are based on historical facts), there is the matter of its second-rate, made-for-television fare — the poor battle choreography, the wooden editing and the cheesy writing, which makes everyone seem ridiculously on-the-nose about their dialogue and their religious beliefs . . . It's a soap opera posing as moral outrage. — Desson Thomson, Washington Post
"'September Dawn' commemorates the Mountain Meadows Massacre of Sept. 11, 1857, in which a party of Mormon militiamen murdered 120 settlers bound for California. True believers probably won't like it, but the sins here are more against good filmmaking than religion. Can a moviegoer ask for blood atonement along with a ticket refund? — Ty Burr, Boston Globe
Its Christian settlers are bathed in such a flattering glow of sanctity, and the Mormons portrayed as such inhuman zealots, that the project has the appearance of melodramatic sectarian propaganda. . . . The film is rife with scandalized references to polygamy and proto-feminist indignation about the status of Mormon women, while director Christopher Cain makes it clear where he stands by photographing Mormon characters from the most menacing angles he can find . . . The film feels less like historical drama than a venomous religious tract printed on celluloid. — Minneapolis Star Tribune
Writer-director Christopher Cain and co-writer Carole Whang Schutter seize upon the coincidence of the incident at Mountain Meadows having occurred on a previous 9/11 and run with it, trying hard to twist those events into a parable of religious fanaticism and zealotry. Cain and Schutter want so desperately to frame their story with clear-cut heroes and villains that they steam-roll over much of the nuance that not only leaves the events open for interpretation but also shows the futility of retrofitting the world into absolutist terms of black and white. — Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times
Though some have accused the movie of carrying an anti-Mormon agenda, it seems mostly preoccupied with connecting the dots between past and present-day fundamentalist violence — as if the coincidence of the massacre's date with another mass killing 144 years after weren't enough emphasis. The point is hammered so loudly and insistently that your head feels like the inside of a drum long before the bloody climax, whose impact is likewise blunted by its heavy-handed excessiveness. It's plausible that 'September Dawn' is overbearing enough to re-open spirited, honest debate about these events. But it's more likely such debate will be delayed while the audience clears the pounding and the soap scum from its ears. — Gene Seymour, Newsday
Director Christopher Cain misuses this shameful moment in frontier history to promote a hokey love story along with a message about the dangers of religious extremism. There are no mitigating circumstances for such savagery, of course, but Cain isn't interested in exploring what went wrong. Instead, he equates the institution of the Mormon church with Islamic extremism at every opportunity. It's an evil empire, and he even cooks up some fictional atrocities to bolster his position as if the massacre itself wasn't terrible enough. The fact that it occurred on Sept. 11 is noted prominently . . . The Mountain Meadows massacre deserves more than this: a serious consideration instead of a distasteful and amateurish melodrama. — Chris Gladden, Roanoke Times
It is unprecedented — or close to it — that a writer needs to disclose his affiliations before reviewing a film, but 'September Dawn' presents such a situation. So here it goes: I have no connection with the Mormon Church, and neither sympathize with it nor oppose it. From that 'neutral' point of view, 'September Dawn' appears a sandwich of a film, with a purpose on top, a biased view on the bottom, and a poorly made movie in-between . . . Predictable, obvious, often silly, with a painfully poor script ('I curse the Gentiles, grrrrr!'), 'September Dawn' doesnt so much expose fanaticism as lays an egg in a fanatical crusade of its own. — San Francisco Examner
Audience fears going into 'September Dawn' are that the film might depict Utah and the LDS Church in a negative light and therefore prove to be a tremendous embarrassment. And as it turns out, this heavily fictionalized drama about the 1857 incident known as the Mountain Meadows Massacre does depict Utah and the church in the worst possible way, and it is indeed a tremendous embarrassment — for the filmmakers. And that includes the cast. For many of them, this film represents a career low. In fact, the filmmaking here is so incompetent and laughably awful that it recalls the work of schlockmeister Ed Wood ('Plan 9 From Outer Space'). — Jeff Vice, Deseret Morning News