The woman who precedes

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Movie
German title The woman who precedes
Original title Woman walks ahead
Country of production United States
original language English , Lakota
Publishing year 2017
length 102 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
Rod
Director Susanna White
script Steven Knight
production Andrea Calderwood ,
Marshall Herskovitz ,
Erika Olde ,
Richard Solomon ,
Edward Zwick
music George Fenton
camera Mike Eley
cut Lucia Zucchetti ,
Steven Rosenblum
occupation

The woman who precedes is a US-based , ajar to real events biopic of British director Susanna White from a script by Steven Knight . The film tells of the painter Catherine Weldon, who traveled from New York City to the Dakota Territory in 1889 to portray the Lakota chief Sitting Bull . The historical model was the Swiss-American civil rights activist and artist Caroline Weldon .

The film had its world premiere in 2017 at the Toronto International Film Festival . It was released in German cinemas on July 5, 2018.

action

The New York painter Catherine Weldon traveled to Dakota Territory in 1889 to portray the legendary Lakota chief Tatánka Íyotake, aka Sitting Bull . When she arrives at Fort Yates military base in the Standing Rock Reservation , the head of the Standing Rock Agency , James McLaughlin , orders her to leave the area on the next train. But the indigenous Chaske, a policeman with the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and nephew of Sitting Bull, takes her to Sitting Bull against the orders of his superior.

After negotiating the then enormous sum of 1,000 US dollars as a fee from Weldon, the chief agrees to be portrayed. During her stay, Weldon was given the name of Frau, who preceded, by the natives and she gradually realized that the Indian wars that were coming to an end were now being continued with the means of the land allocation law and that the natives were able to use most of their already massively decimated land in the Reserves to be robbed. The tribes are to be forced to sign by halving the food rations given out by the BIA.

Sitting Bull gives the painter the entire fee so that she can buy groceries for the winter at the fort. When the truckloads of aborigines are driven away, the white settlers realize that this is undermining the strategy of starvation and their hatred hits Weldon; She is badly mistreated by several men and at the last minute Chaske rescues her from hanging.

When Sitting Bull sees the battered Catherine and seeks revenge, she leads him to instead convince everyone on the reservation to vote against the law. Although he succeeds, Sitting Bull is accused of sedition and shot dead by BIA police during the arrest.

Historical background

Tatánka Íyotake (Sitting Bull), photo c. 1883

The political and historical background is the policy of land allocation to the indigenous peoples from 1887: The indigenous peoples of this area did not have any private land ownership - it was common property of the people who lived on this land. Due to the parceling made by the US government, certain reserve residents were each assigned an area between 16 and 64 hectares. All unallocated land in the reserve area went to the state and could be sold. Thus the reserve area was once again significantly decimated.

Sitting Bull, Portrait by Caroline Weldon, 1890, oil on canvas

The historic Swiss-American artist Caroline Weldon was a member of the National Indian Defense Association long before her 1889 trip . She was divorced, not widowed as in the film, and was traveling with an illegitimate child. Sitting Bull, unlike in the film, had a family and took her and her child in there. Weldon painted four portraits of the Lakota chief, but above all she supported him in resisting the further downsizing of the reservation.

reception

publication

It premiered on September 10, 2017 at the Toronto International Film Festival , and in the United States, the film was screened at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 25, 2018 . It was released in cinemas in Germany on July 5, 2018.

Age rating

In Germany, the film was released by the FSK on June 28, 2018 for children aged 12 and over. The reasoning states: “Depictions of attacks against the protagonist as well as of the atrocities of the Indian wars can overwhelm children of primary school age due to their emotional intensity, but they are staged enough and dramatically well embedded so that even 12-year-olds can process them. Since calm scenes again and again provide relief and the historical setting also creates distance, this age group can deal with the film without being overwhelmed. "

Actors Michael Greyeyes and Sam Rockwell, who play Sitting Bull and Silas Groves in the film, at the screening of the film at the Tribeca Film Festival in April 2018 Actors Michael Greyeyes and Sam Rockwell, who play Sitting Bull and Silas Groves in the film, at the screening of the film at the Tribeca Film Festival in April 2018
Actors Michael Greyeyes and Sam Rockwell , who play
Sitting Bull and Silas Groves in the film , at the screening of the film
at the Tribeca Film Festival in April 2018

criticism

According to Katja Nicodemus from Norddeutscher Rundfunk , the landscape of the American West is presented like a travel agency and the rapprochement between Weldon and Sitting Bull is too predictable. The oppression of the Indians is only the background for the story of friendship and female self-discovery.

Sabine Oelmann from n-tv , the film does not seem realistic, even if it is based on facts. The protagonist is too beautiful, the chief too much a gentleman and even the villain has sympathetic moments.

For Martina Knoben from the Süddeutsche Zeitung , Jessica Chastain makes a convincing, fascinating figure out of Catherine Weldon. The Wild West is drawn in splendid widescreen pictures and not the bleak, ruthless nature that the life of the pioneers in other films of this genre reflected. The Indian appears as the noble savage who is an equal interlocutor for the lady, and the contact between people across the boundaries of genders and cultures is exciting. With three stories told at the same time, the emancipation story, the love story and the last rearing of the Indians, the direction of the film is not entirely clear. It is annoying that here a white person brings civilization to the “savages” in the form of a democratic process.

References

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Certificate of Release for The Woman Who Goes Ahead . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry (PDF; test number: 180286 / K). Template: FSK / maintenance / type not set and Par. 1 longer than 4 characters
  2. ↑ Daniel Kothenschulte: "The woman who precedes": prints the legend. Frankfurter Rundschau , July 5, 2018, accessed on August 16, 2018 .
  3. ↑ FSK approval reasons. The woman who precedes. FSK , June 28, 2018, accessed August 15, 2018 .
  4. ↑ Katja Nicodemus: "The woman who precedes": Drama by Susanna White. NDR.de - Culture - Film. Norddeutscher Rundfunk , July 4, 2018, accessed on July 16, 2018 .
  5. ↑ Sabine Oelmann: Then live more. The woman who precedes. n-tv , July 5, 2018, accessed on July 16, 2018 .
  6. ↑ Martina Knoben: Western, the chief and the lady. Süddeutsche Zeitung , July 4, 2018, accessed on July 16, 2018 .