Riel

OK this might be entertaining but it is not a very accurate portrayal of the life of Riel at all There is no evidence that Riel went to Ottawa, let alone signed in at the parliament buildings. Riel hardly knew Gabriel Dumont during the time of the first Rebellion, they are only known to have met once before the second rebellion. The film omits any mention of Riel's treachery such as when he convinced a number of illiterate settlers to follow him by "predicting" a solar eclipse. The reason that he knew there would be an eclipse is he read it in the paper! As has been mentioned before Riel's appearance is not very accurate. This was an ambitious effort by the CBC to create an epic Canadian mini series similar to the US series "Centennial". It succeeds in my opinion in being entertaining with pretty good production values and aside from Riel's life itself is quite good at portraying the history and the characters in it. However as Riel is the main character and is portrayed so inaccurately I can't give it more than a 5.

Edit to add new information:

Well you live and learn. I have since discovered that Riel did sign into parliament after all. I still cannot upgrade my rating for this series because the overall portrayal of Riel is still very inaccurate.

I was hired to play a Metis warrior. I already had longish hair, and, at the costume fitting, I was asked not to shave. A lot of First Nations people were hired; the first day (and the first ten minutes!) on the set, I struck up a conversation with a young Native man, and he made an anti-Semitic remark about "the Jews" he believed were the bosses of the production. A more pleasant observation: I overheard a young Native man, in an attempt to get acquainted with one of the buckskin-clad young women, ask, "You Ojibway?" It was very sweet; they were teenagers. Production had to be halted when one of the lead actors, it was rumored, took LSD and disappeared into the nearby woods . . . I spent some of the shoot in a trench with a rifle, positioned next Cloutier (Riel) and the real great-grandson of Louis Riel, who came in from Saskatchewan and was also hired on as an actor. After some time cheek by jowl, he said: "You don't talk much for a white man." In the same trench with us was legendary performer Don Francks, with his genuine braids and affable hipster warmth and sense of humor. I still run into him occasionally when I'm in Toronto. He is often barefoot. There were some mishaps with actors who claimed they could ride but, in reality did not have the skills or experience to handle a charging horse. There was an accident where some outdoor lighting equipment fell on a young Native woman. At lunch, we were all given a bottle of beer. Not being much of a beer-drinker, I was able to trade those beers for other treats. It was interesting to observe the Native guys ragging on each other. They would "dis" one another over their perceived (real or not) "whiteness." Once, on the bus back to Toronto after a day on the set, one of the guys called me "White Man," with some hostility. He was not perceptively any more dark- skinned than myself, so I shot back: "Who you calling "white?" His own insecurities regarding his own bloodlines must have kicked in because he backed off rather sheepishly. My first name and prominent cheekbones must have helped. The Native guys had names like Peter and Robert; some had reddish hair. Go figure. Good times. Peace and Love, Wolf Krakowski, Kame'a Media: www.kamea.com

I enjoyed this movie when it first came out in 1979. Currently, I am waiting to rent it from the library. I am in the process of researching and writing about Louis Riel as a personal writing project. The life story of this man has always interested me. I grew up in St. Boniface, Manitoba, where Riel was born and raised. I remember visiting his grave in the grounds of St. Boniface Basilica as a small girl.

The makers of this movie take certain poetic license in the making of the movie. However, this does not in any way detract from the overall sweep of events in examining and analyzing the life of Louis Riel. It is a good two hours of engrossing entertainment in depicting an important period of Canadian history.

Like one of the other posters, I feel they could have found an actor who looked more like the real Louis Riel. At the very least, Raymond Cloutier should have had a moustache and beard like the real Louis had.

Apart from that, though, I really enjoyed this movie and am looking forward to seeing it again.

When I saw this adaptation, I thought it had too many flaws for it come across as anything serious. Christopher Plummer was good as John A. MacDonald, but the corny concepts and atrocious historical inaccuracies make for hard viewing.

After watching this film, I cannot say that it was very well made in terms of the characters who were portrayed in it. For example, Thomas Scott didn't look anywhere close to the actor who was given the role of playing his part. As for Riel himself, he had a beard and moustache for the most of his life but in the film he's clean shaven. But it is quite hard to depict every single detail in a film so as a result there will be some misconceptions (some more intentional than others). In addition to that, some of the battles that occurred during the conflict in 1885 were misconstrued. The visit to Ottawa that Riel and Dumont took together in the film probably never happened in real life.

Well....... anyways......... that's the reason why I gave this film a 6 out of 10.