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On December
29th, 1890, Chief Bigfoot's band of 300 unarmed men, women and children
were gunned down by a drunken and inexperienced 7th Cavalry. By the end
of the
day, a blizzard had set in. The bodies of the dead quickly froze into
grotesque
shapes. Later, soldiers dug a mass grave and unceremoniously burried
the dead
at Wounded Knee. The survivors- four men and forty-seven women and
children,
were hauled by buckboard and left at the Episcopal mission at Pine
Ridge, South
Dakota. It was four days past christmas. Above the pulpit a banner
read- "Peace
on Earth, Good Will to Men."
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THE
RIDE TO WOUNED KNEE tells
the true story of the massacre of 1890. One hundred years later, a
ceremonial
reenactment of the flight of the Lakota was performed by their
descendents.
They rode from Standing Rock to Wounded Knee, a journey of 250 miles,
in minus
70 degree weather during the same two week period in December. This
beautiful footage
by award winning cinematographer Frances Reid dramatizes the 1890
events.
Archival flims by such pioneering directors as Buffalo Bill, Thomas
Ince, Buster
Keaton and John Ford further dramatize the history. Music from the
Memorial
Ride, and authentic music from 1890- from the Seventh Cavalry, the
Ghost Dance
and the songs of Sitting Bull, add depth and meaning. The historical
narrations
are all based on documetary sources- newspapers, millitary records,
diaries and
interviews with survivors of the massacre.
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Interviews
with the leaders of the Bigfoot Memorial Ride, including Arvol Looking
Horse, the holder of the sacred pipe, add great insight to the
historical events
and their meaning to the Lakota people today. Elders whose parents or
grandparents
survived the massacre tell the stories that they heard as children, in
the
tradition of Lakota oral history. THE RIDE TO WOUNDED KNEE ends with a haunting memorial at
the mass grave site at Wounded Knee. Grieving and
praying, the people honor their ancestors, then wipe away the tears and
turn
toward the future.
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