It is the days when settlers moved in wagon trains to seemingly large stretches of uninhabited lands to make a new life but where indigenous native Americans have lived and roamed for centuries.
Miners caught up in gold fever try to strike it rich.
By all accounts they were also hard, unrelenting brutal kind of days when people struggled all their lives to make ends meet.
I would say this appears to be a realistic portrayal of how it was, rather than a sanitised, romanticised Hollywood view of history.
The saga, which seems more like a television mini-series than a movie, tells the story of several groups of people and how the paths of their lives cross.
Horizon is the name of a town which surveyors laid out in the thick of native American territory.
It is a bit difficult to figure out who is who for a start because the action jumps from scene to scene.
The scenery is magnificent.
The movie is directed by Kevin Costner who also stars in it and co-wrote the script with Jon Baird.
Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington and Giovanni Ribisi are also part of the main cast.
Being a Western fan from way back I did enjoy the movie but given its length and the fact it is only part one of four, it may not be everyone’s cup of tea.
I’ll be back, though.
The second part of the movie will be released later this year and two more parts are planned for the future.
