Unlike the great majority of Hollywood films, the film title sums up the theme of the film quite succinctly. It's based on a true story, albeit with various significant alterations. There are 2 women, stolen by renegade Sioux. Deleted from the film is the fact that, historically, these women were captured separately, and each brutally raped by their captors before being taken to their village. In the film, only the Sioux are involved, whereas, historically, the women were soon traded to the Cheyenne. They are shown being beaten by the native women, initially, whereas, historically, the native women took pity on them after their ordeals. Their long term response to being captured: positive or negative, was as dramatized, except that the identity of the accommodating vs. resisting one is reversed from the historical women. It is true that , eventually, Anne was 'married' to a chief before "liberation", and bore him a son soon after she was repatriated with her white husband, not mentioned in the film.
There were 2 women, but the Sioux captured the heart of only one: Anna. Sarah resisted attempts at enculturation. Thus, the "s" on the end of 'Hearts" in the film title refers to the infatuation of chief Tokalah for Anna. At first, Anna was hesitant to comply with a sexual relationship with Tokalah, because she considered herself still married to her European husband. But, she gradually changes her mind, as she adopts more features of the Sioux culture, including their language.
Once the 2 women were recovered by Custer's party, Anna was in a quandary whether to remain a 'captive' of her prior European culture, or try to run away to her Sioux tribe. Sarah encouraged her to do the latter, saying she would be living a lie if she didn't return to the Sioux. For the unmarried Sarah, the answer was different.
Actually, I didn't find Michael Greyeyes, as Tokalah, all that exciting as a prospective mate. True, he was broad shouldered and muscular, but he had no expression on his face, being rather wooden and slow in his dealing with Anna. Often, the others were moving in slow motion, as well.
This is not the first film to deal with the fates of European women captured by Aboriginal Americans., nor the first to note quite different attitudes toward capture within a pair. I assume the two women in this story were both late teens. Most often, such women were killed after being raped, or sometimes, as in the present case, held for ransom while working as a slave.
As portrayed in prior films, such as "The Searchers", "Northwest Passage" and "The Charge at Feather River", often a pre-teen or young teen would be spared and groomed to become a squaw, often of a chief. Such girls were much more likely to be completely enculturated as members of their tribe within a year, than older women.
The real Anna Brewster didn't return to the Sioux after her 'liberation'. She lived to regret this, as she was ostracized for having consorted with Native Americans. This was the typical response to such women by most frontier women. In contrast, she was treated well by most of the Cheyenne women.
This film is currently available at YouTube.
There were 2 women, but the Sioux captured the heart of only one: Anna. Sarah resisted attempts at enculturation. Thus, the "s" on the end of 'Hearts" in the film title refers to the infatuation of chief Tokalah for Anna. At first, Anna was hesitant to comply with a sexual relationship with Tokalah, because she considered herself still married to her European husband. But, she gradually changes her mind, as she adopts more features of the Sioux culture, including their language.
Once the 2 women were recovered by Custer's party, Anna was in a quandary whether to remain a 'captive' of her prior European culture, or try to run away to her Sioux tribe. Sarah encouraged her to do the latter, saying she would be living a lie if she didn't return to the Sioux. For the unmarried Sarah, the answer was different.
Actually, I didn't find Michael Greyeyes, as Tokalah, all that exciting as a prospective mate. True, he was broad shouldered and muscular, but he had no expression on his face, being rather wooden and slow in his dealing with Anna. Often, the others were moving in slow motion, as well.
This is not the first film to deal with the fates of European women captured by Aboriginal Americans., nor the first to note quite different attitudes toward capture within a pair. I assume the two women in this story were both late teens. Most often, such women were killed after being raped, or sometimes, as in the present case, held for ransom while working as a slave.
As portrayed in prior films, such as "The Searchers", "Northwest Passage" and "The Charge at Feather River", often a pre-teen or young teen would be spared and groomed to become a squaw, often of a chief. Such girls were much more likely to be completely enculturated as members of their tribe within a year, than older women.
The real Anna Brewster didn't return to the Sioux after her 'liberation'. She lived to regret this, as she was ostracized for having consorted with Native Americans. This was the typical response to such women by most frontier women. In contrast, she was treated well by most of the Cheyenne women.
This film is currently available at YouTube.