Home :: DVD :: Drama  

African American Drama
Classics
Crime & Criminals
Cult Classics
Family Life
Gay & Lesbian
General
Love & Romance
Military & War
Murder & Mayhem
Period Piece
Religion
Sports
Television
The Education of Little Tree

The Education of Little Tree

List Price: $14.99
Your Price: $11.99
Product Info Reviews

<< 1 2 3 4 >>

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: KKK?
Review: I learned a few years ago that the author of this book was a member of the KKK. Let me tell you all something interesting. I am Iroquois and New York Hill Billy and the book was reccomended to me by a Jewish relative. I also have an uncle that is Eastern Band Cherokee (North Carolina) So having Jewish ancestry and Iroquois ancestry, and having an uncle in law that is Cherokee. I was amused to find out this weekend that one of my ancestors on my mothers side, (Mind you it's the Iroquois side not the Jewish side)Was a leader of the KKK in Columbia County, New York. I have always hated racism and find my self more comfortable when I am around people of other races and cultures. I would love to laugh at my ancestor because he had no idea that this would happen to his family. We are a damn cool family too. Some how we escaped the damnation and are a family that is dedicated to furthering the cause of love. I am not ashamed of my anscestor for that very reason. His hatred and stupidity died with him. I don't know that he murdered anyone back then but if he did, it is quite possible that this far down the line we have become relatives of those families too. That would mean that he is their anscestor as well and why should they be ashamed? This is a great story and their should be a story of the life of the author if anyone would be interested in writing it. Peace My wife is a Tatar Muslim from Russia We just keep getting browner while Great Great Gran'dad turns over in his grave.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Charming and Simple
Review: I loved the mountains in this movie. I don't know if it was filmed in the Appalacian mountains or somewhere else, but I want to go there. To have a grandma and grandpa so loving and spiritual would be such joy for any child. Little Tree has Indian blood in him from his grandma and White blood from his grandpa. His parents die and he lives with them in the mountains. They educate him with love and wisdom. The simplicity of truth. I felt awestruck by such simple honesty and the beauty of nature. It seems Little Tree kept his grandparents with him throughout his life, holding him in his spirit as they held him within theirs. Looking at the Dog Star and knowing, really knowing that he could be heard. What a feeling of saftey. This movie weaves that safe warmth as you view it.

Lisa Nary

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A hidden gem
Review: I loved this movie and have watched it many times. I am buying the DVD as I've worn out the video version already. Masterful, understated acting and a powerful story about learning the Way in the world. Tantoo Cardinal (granma) at her best. Quiet, supremely confident and powerful in her presence. Quite frankly I truly believe this movie is of Oscar quality and shame on the Oscars for missing it. I really can't say enough about this movie. I don't understand how it's been overlooked by so many.... This is the kind of movie you will cherish for yourself and find yourself handing a copy to your child later in life... Beautiful. Buy it.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Insight of orphaned natives
Review: I loved this movie because my Hopi grandfather had a similar story but had nobody to raise him, and in desperation he asked an immigrant farmer in Phoenix to raise him. He ran away from the indian boarding school or orphanage because of the abuse. This movie is so moving and beautiful that it is a must have if you have can or cannot relate.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Insight of orphaned natives
Review: I loved this movie because my Hopi grandfather had a similar story but had nobody to raise him, and in desperation he asked an immigrant farmer in Phoenix to raise him. He ran away from the indian boarding school or orphanage because of the abuse. This movie is so moving and beautiful that it is a must have if you have can or cannot relate.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great family movie
Review: I was required to read The Education of Little Tree in a college freshman course and became hooked immediately. I use the book and movie now in my own classroom instruction. If you are looking to buy the movie as a replacement to reading the book, don't. The movie is very different from the book by Forrest Carter. Basically the movie is geared more toward children but is still well worth watching for all ages. Buy the movie and buy the book, both are great even with the questions about Carter's past.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Fantastic
Review: I went to see the movie to see how the director and producer would treat it. I've read the book numerous times, and wondered if the packaging would do it justice. It did. There were a couple of scenes missing in the movie (like the turkey trap), but overall this was excellent. The movie contained the same emotional impact as the book.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Tale Of Lost Opportunity
Review: Like another movie I recently watched and commented upon, "The Education Of Little Tree", is not a five star film, but it becomes one when its message is included. James Cromwell, Tantoo Cardinal, Joseph Ashton, Mika Boorem, and Graham Greene all give wonderful performances. Joseph and Mika are both young children, so their performances are all the more worthy of praise.

The Native Americans that are included in this film are The Cherokee People, and their story, including, "The Trail Of Tears", play a prominent role. Like other Native Americans, The Cherokee lived without destroying the land and the wildlife they coexisted with. They only used what they needed, greed did not drive them to exploit nature and destroy her, as we and our ancestors have, and continue to do.

The movie is beautifully filmed in the mountains of Tennessee, and the director took the time to capture the natural beauty that European settlers were to exploit and ruin. It's true some of this beauty still exists, but is largely because it has become national parkland, rather than having been left unmolested out of respect for its intrinsic value. Poignant moments are frequent in this film, and one is certainly when a young boy who is half Cherokee is sent off to a Dickensian nightmare of a school to be abused because of his, "Indian Blood". Upon his arrival he is stripped of his Native American name and given an, "American replacement", Joshua. It appears that biblical names were originally written for re-naming true Americans.

Graham Greene is a familiar face to many moviegoers and he is a pleasure to watch in this film. Tantoo Cardinal who plays the role of the young boy's Cherokee grandmother is also wonderful.

The movie does not resolve its tale on a completely happy note, nor one of complete despair. As it has in real life, time has shown all that was lost when Genocide was carried out against Native Americans as federal government policy. Had good judgment, and lack of stupefying greed worked to integrate the newcomers to this country with the natives that were here, I have little doubt our country would be better for it, and the facts of the country's history would not include the genocide of those people we deemed to be in our way.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This is one of the few movies I would like to own.
Review: Moving story, gorgeous scenery, endearing characters, funny, sad, thought provoking. I watched it twice in two days and I'd like to see it again tomorrow!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I love this movie
Review: My great-grandmother, Irene Jump was Cherokee she usd to always tell me of how my grandmother was made to go to these "camps" as she called them. My grandfather always said that she'd stopped calling them prison after WW2. This movie really hit the right spots.


<< 1 2 3 4 >>

© 2004, ReviewFocus or its affiliates