wsroth I read details offered by IMDb on this movie; various summaries; external reviews & several user reviews: Why no one has mentioned or made reference to Michener's "Centennial" surprises me! One of the first ways we expressed our view of this miniseries was a comparison to the book & miniseries. "Of course Spielberg's "Into the West" was done better than "Centennial" though for it's time "Centennial" was done well & I've viewed it many times.Perhaps The Chronicles negative review might have been less critical had the writer refrained from mentioning the "weeks"?? he spent researching this screenplay. Perhaps his research included reading Michener's book.I feel the use of family lineage to report history through the eyes of those living it is a wonderful venue for teaching it. Far more people would recall what they learn if the reviewed it as a story. I learned more about the Trojan Wars through Marian Zimmer-Bradley's "Firebrand" than all the lectures & reading I experienced in high school & college. As did many children about the Roman gods through "The Lightning Thief"I hope to see more of this means of teaching and hope like my college professor in "Women in Antiquity" did with the use of Zimmer-Bradley's "Firebrand" Being one who failed miserably in history due to an inability to recall anything, I wished I could have understood it as my friend did: "... all as a collection of great stories" If our educators incorporated books like those I've mentioned in their instruction, perhaps even weaker students, much like myself, would not only improve grades but, actually retain the information thereafter.Granted Michener is a fantastic story teller & incorporates a wondrous plethora of fact & insight in his books, but, some of his novels aren't the quickest reads I've experienced, but I'm certain numerous authors have attempted to produce similar learning experiences in their books. After all, most avid readers seeking good fiction want "believability" & research is all the key.

ctomvelu1 I have now seen all of this six-part miniseries about the settling of the West. This obviously was a massive production, with an incredibly realistic feel for the hardships involved in crossing the country by wagon and trying to eke out a living. A couple of familiar faces are on hand, including Beau Bridges, but this is a team effort with a huge and constantly changing cast as the years roll by. The costumes alone for this movie must have kept an army of seamstresses busy. The film was shot in scenic western Canada, and I cannot imagine how they shot some of the sequences without anyone getting hurt. One amazing bit has ae wagon train crossing a turbulent river, during which some of the wagons tip over in the fast-moving water. I was a little less impressed with the cavalry killing Indians, which has been done to death in other movies. It adds nothing new here. In fact, and not to offend anyone, I found the movie's one comedown to be too much time spent with the Indians. A small complaint on my part, as those sequences are easily fast-forwarded. A must-see, although not a film I would want shown in schools or seen by impressionable people. Too grim,a nd of course the white guys automatically become the clichéd bad guys when it comes to dealing with nonwhites.

NoName1989 I expected a lot of this mini-series, because Steven Spielberg was the executive producer. And you notice that when you watch this series. The direction is very good! This series must have cost a lot of money, because it's excellently filmed. Very interesting is, that the series shows the situation in a different way. Not like in a traditional western, where the Americans are the hero's and the Indians are the stupid barbarians. Nicely done! Again a very good product by Steven Spielberg! But sometimes the English that is spoken, is difficult to understand, certainly when there are no subtitles. But nevertheless, very good mini-series!

usenet69 I am a South African. I am white. I have been expected to apologize to the blacks in my country for the so called autrocities that the white people performed against the blacks over the ages.Having just viewed this movie and having studied up on the history of various Native American Tribes, this movie, especially episode 6 truly made me sick to my stomach.I want to know if the Americans still bear the guilt they should for the barbaric way the massacred the native population of the country they took from them.If we had followed the same route in Africa, we would not be in the racial problems that we have today. We would have also been a white majority but we did not. We fed them, educated them, gave them the best living standards in Africa but we are still being expected to apologize. As for me, I wont apologize but if history is correct, the Americans of today owe restitution to the Native Americans they treated like animals.Has any such apologies or restitution ever been done in the USA ? I would really like to know.