If you want to get a sense of how brutal and violent the westward expansion of American civilization was, then watch this film, which was made in 1999 and is set in the middle of the 19th century. It’s about frontiersmen and their mad dreams and desires. The film, directed by the late Antonia Bird, is a journey to the barbaric heart of white American “progress.” When you get there (the heart of it) and see what it is, all you can say is: “the horror, the horror.” by Charles Mudede