MANILA, Philippines?In the Emmy Award-winning non-fiction epic, ?Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee,? which premieres in Asia on July 11 at 10 p.m. on the HBO Signature channel, director Yves Simoneau adapts Dee Brown?s 1970 book, which traces the systematic displacement and slaughter of Native Americans in the Wild West by the United States federal government in the late 19th century, after jostling over the contentious ownership of the gold-rich Black Hills of South Dakota.

The film compresses Brown?s detailed historical retelling and focuses, instead, on the events that took place between the bloody Battle at Little Big Horn in Montana in 1876?which is largely considered as the worst defeat that the US Cavalry suffered in the Indian Wars?and the massacre of Sioux prisoners at Wounded Knee in South Dakota on Dec. 29, 1890, which ended the Indian Wars.

Perspective

If you want to get a different perspective on ?how the West was won,? HBO?s made-for-TV movie is a should-see?and an eye-opener. In Brown and Simoneau?s version, the White Man is not necessarily the courageous protagonist fighting only to protect himself against the savagery of the Red Man. But, as one character, in an attempt to explain the bloodbath, rationalizes, ?There?s no honor in killing?only necessity!?

After watching a screener of the film, we found the stark contrast of contradictory perspectives intriguing. The movie aims to differentiate between ?insurgency? and ?resistance? and draws a fine line between assimilation and subjugation?and eventual invasion.

One-sided policies

The epic drama is topbilled by Aidan Quinn as Sen. Henry Dawes; August Schellenberg, who earned an Emmy nomination for his performance as the iconic Lakota Sioux chief who refuses to submit to the US government?s one-sided policies; Wes Studi as the Paiutean prophet, Wovoka; Anna Paquin as Elaine Goodall, and Adam Beach as Charles Eastman aka Ohiyesa, the Dartmouth-educated, Sioux physician (who?s also known for cofounding the Boy Scouts), whose character?while not in the book?is used as the film?s narrator.

Last week, in a brief phone interview with Schellenberg, who has played the role of Sitting Bull thrice since 1972, the 71-year-old Swiss-German-Mohawk actor said that playing the coveted role was more an honor than a challenge. He explained: ?I have spoken to Sitting Bull?s descendants?and, the Lakota people in the cast were also a great help.?

Two scenes in the epic particularly struck us: First, Indians had to adopt American names in 1895 as part of the US government?s ?assimilation-or-extinction? land-appropriations plan. (It was hard not to note that scene?s historical parallelism with Spanish Governor General Narciso Claveria?s program in 1849?when the Philippines was still under Spanish colonial rule?ordering the distribution of Castillian-sounding family names to the Indios via the Catalogo Alfabetico de Apellidos for a more systematic tax collection.)

Stubborn son

Another scene shows Eastman?s father urging his stubborn 18-year-old son to learn the ways of their Caucasian invaders by saying: ?Earth belongs to the White Man. There?s no future outside his world.? When asked what he thought of the line, Mr. Schellenberg replied: ?Let?s face it. In North America, at least, if you don?t adjust, you don?t go very far.?