Unlike the great majority of Hollywood films, the film title sums up the theme of the film quite succinctly. It's based on a true story, albeit with various significant alterations. There are 2 women, stolen by renegade Sioux. Deleted from the film is the fact that, historically, these women were captured separately, and each brutally raped by their captors before being taken to their village. In the film, only the Sioux are involved, whereas, historically, the women were soon traded to the Cheyenne. They are shown being beaten by the native women, initially, whereas, historically, the native women took pity on them after their ordeals. Their long term response to being captured: positive or negative, was as dramatized, except that the identity of the accommodating vs. resisting one is reversed from the historical women. It is true that , eventually, Anne was 'married' to a chief before "liberation", and bore him a son soon after she was repatriated with her white husband, not mentioned in the film. There were 2 women, but the Sioux captured the heart of only one: Anna. Sarah resisted attempts at enculturation. Thus, the "s" on the end of 'Hearts" in the film title refers to the infatuation of chief Tokalah for Anna. At first, Anna was hesitant to comply with a sexual relationship with Tokalah, because she considered herself still married to her European husband. But, she gradually changes her mind, as she adopts more features of the Sioux culture, including their language.Once the 2 women were recovered by Custer's party, Anna was in a quandary whether to remain a 'captive' of her prior European culture, or try to run away to her Sioux tribe. Sarah encouraged her to do the latter, saying she would be living a lie if she didn't return to the Sioux. For the unmarried Sarah, the answer was different.Actually, I didn't find Michael Greyeyes, as Tokalah, all that exciting as a prospective mate. True, he was broad shouldered and muscular, but he had no expression on his face, being rather wooden and slow in his dealing with Anna. Often, the others were moving in slow motion, as well.This is not the first film to deal with the fates of European women captured by Aboriginal Americans., nor the first to note quite different attitudes toward capture within a pair. I assume the two women in this story were both late teens. Most often, such women were killed after being raped, or sometimes, as in the present case, held for ransom while working as a slave.As portrayed in prior films, such as "The Searchers", "Northwest Passage" and "The Charge at Feather River", often a pre-teen or young teen would be spared and groomed to become a squaw, often of a chief. Such girls were much more likely to be completely enculturated as members of their tribe within a year, than older women.The real Anna Brewster didn't return to the Sioux after her 'liberation'. She lived to regret this, as she was ostracized for having consorted with Native Americans. This was the typical response to such women by most frontier women. In contrast, she was treated well by most of the Cheyenne women.This film is currently available at YouTube.

This movie is set in in Kansas, the late 1860s. A beautiful new bride and one of her friends is kidnapped by a tribe of Sioux Indians seeking revenge on General Custer. A proud Lakota Sioux warrior falls for one of the women and they begin to feel a deep connection to each other. The other woman goes only lives to return to her people.This story examines the struggle between two cultures, and a woman's honor.This movie has stayed with me since the first time I watched it. It made me question how strong I would be in her situation. And how I would deal with choosing my people or the 'wild savages'. Wonderfully done!

... but overall I can't help loving it - even though I'm not a fan of romance movies. At all! I never get tired of looking at Michael Greyeyes, though. :D My main complaint about the story is that it doesn't take the time to develop the relationship between the main protagonists (instead, precious minutes are wasted on some goat-milk drinking cavalry fool with fake teeth.) One moment Anna is outraged by Tokalah's advances, the next moment he throws a blanket around her shoulders and she changes her mind. One moment she calls him an arrogant pompous fool, the next they're fused at the lips.It's all a bit too fast and the ending too abrupt (how come she didn't need a map to find the Indian village?) and bewildering (what exactly happened to the village?), but oh well... I still like it!

I loved this movie that presented Native American culture and history with respect and understanding. Anna, the character portrayed by Janine Turner, was a woman who learned to adapt in order to survive after being kidnapped by Indians. By adapting, she came to an understanding of Native Americans and respect for individuals. Her relationship with the Indian man showed that people are basically the same in any culture and that individuals can reach across cultural and racial lines to have caring relationships. Anna also learned about the failings of the white race, prejudice toward Indians, and the white man's mistreatment of Indians.I believe this is a story based on fact, especially since General Custer appeared in the story. My great-grandmother, who was born in 1874, was two years of age when Little Big Horn happened. She often told me she heard people discussing Little Big Horn when she was a child. I now have her books about Indians, written in the late 1800s. Earlier generations of my family came to Indiana in the early 1800s and lived with Native Americans. In fact, one rural Baptist church started as a mission to the Potawatomi Indians of northern Indiana.Most Hoosiers know the story of Frances Slocum, a pioneer girl who was kidnapped by Indians and named Maconaquah. When her family found her years later, she had so much adapted to the Indian way of life that she preferred to stay with the Indian tribe and her Indian husband and children. A similar story is "The Searchers," which starred John Wayne and Natalie Wood. However, the character portrayed by the late Miss Wood was young and malleable enough to re-adapt to white society.Because of the common themes in the above movies and incidents, "Stolen Women, Captured Hearts" has a special meaning for me. I would highly recommend it to everyone.