Customer Reviews

Biography - Geronimo [VHS]

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A&E's biographies are typically so fantastic and intriguing, that perhaps I'm just expecting too much here, but this one on "Geronimo" just didn't hit the spot for me.

The documentary did touch on the fact that Geronimo was believed to have "the Power" that delayed the sun's rise and enabled him to hide from his would-be captors in mysterious ways and be sheltered from injury and flying bullets.

But the video was a bit too dry for me.

I'm certainly glad I watched it. As I type this review and recall the details of the documentary, I realize that I did retain a great number of details about this legendary Native-American.

So - I'd recommend the documentary as it contains good info, but it's a bit slow.

This is a pretty decent introduction to the life of Geronimo, but it still left me wondering why this man was so feared by his contemporaries and lauded by historians. He was supposedly the last great Indian warrior, but this video didn't make clear exactly how he acquired such legendary status. He led a lot of raids, but that type of armed thievery was a part of Apache culture itself. He did hold off American forces on a number of occasions, even holding almost one quarter of all American forces at bay for months with just 36 men - but he was basically just hiding in the mountains he regarded as sacred. Allusions are made to the extrasensory and somewhat godlike "power" he supposedly held, but this aspect of his life was not given a thorough examination in the video.

There is no indication in this video that his men hunkered down and basically fought American forces to a standstill at any time. Geronimo's whole story seems to consist of multiple surrenders, with him giving up and then, a short while later, "busting out" with his men once again. Some of his own people eventually began to blame him for their own sufferings, for they suffered some of the punishment for his deeds. In the end, he was truly broken by his enemies, to the point of riding in Theodore Roosevelt's inaugural parade as a symbolic trophy of the white man's victory over the Indians.

I am not intimately familiar with Geronimo's story, but it seems to me there must be more to it than this video reveals - otherwise, I don't know why his name is even remembered. Certainly, he was a proud man who did everything he could to preserve his people's traditional way of life, and one can only imagine the horror he - in particular - felt at being shuffled from one Indian reservation to another far from his true home. The only greater horror had to be the murder of his family by Mexican forces - the event that turned him into a warrior seeking revenge. After watching this video, I know the tragedies that befell Geronimo and his people, and I understand why he fought the white man with such fervor, but I don't feel as if I ever really saw a glimpse at the man history looks upon as the last great Indian warrior.