Top critical review
2.0 out of 5 starsConcerned About Misrepresentation
Reviewed in the United States on July 8, 2014
I was loving this DVD, which was very well produced and seemed to offer new information on old sites, and I was ready to give it five stars….that is, until I came to the section on Chaco Canyon near the end.
I can’t say I know a lot about the material covered on this DVD, with the exception of Chaco Canyon. I have visited the site three times, have studied quite a few books about it and the Ancestral Puebloan people it relates to, and have given a number of public presentations on Chaco and other sites from the same culture.
Right in the midst of filming related to Chaco they show part of what is presented as a structure in the canyon and describe a massacre that took place there and related evidence of possible cannibalism. I am familiar with the incident discussed. It did not take place at Chaco Canyon but at another Ancestral Puebloan site called Cowboy Wash. Chaco Canyon is in New Mexico. Cowboy Wash is in Colorado.
The fact that the movie producers went to some lengths to make the massacre happen at Chaco Canyon disturbs me. They did not need to do that. Telling the truth about the massacre’s location would not have diminished their film. The fact that they knowingly distorted that piece of history, perhaps out of convenience, causes me to wonder if other parts of the DVD have intentional distortions. It shatters my ability to trust that the producers of the DVD are doing their best to present accurate information. Now I don’t know if I can trust any of this DVD set to be true.
(This section on Chaco Canyon is labeled “Anasazi” a long discarded word for what is now referred to as the Ancestral Puebloan culture. The name Anasazi was replaced because its meaning is insulting to contemporary Pueblo people, who are descendents of the Ancestral Puebloans. Unless this film was made before the name change, the use of the name Anasazi is very inappropriate.)
