REEL INJUN

the filmmaker, a cree, relates a story from his youth in canada.  they watched cowboy & indian films in the church basement, and all rooted for the cowboys.  as he said, "we didn't know WE were the indians".  everyone views "indians" as horse riders in the american west.  the director rides through current native american communities of the west in a rez car. this scenes are interspersed with clips from iconic films, interviews with native americans, and footage of the geographic regions that were classically shown in the films.    i enjoyed seeing so many locations that i've visited, such as the black hills and monument valley,...oh, and haight ashbury--the new location for indians (when all the hippies dressed indian).  stereotypes abound--the noble indian, the savage, the drunk, "the best injun is a dead injun".  the film discusses how jewish and italian actors played the native american roles.  then, speak of john wayne and his actions against the indians!  there are some cute clips from cartoons also:  bugs bunny shooting 1 little, 2 little, 3 little indians.  i think one of the big impacts from film is that the indians always lost--what must that look like to a generation of young native american children growing up.  the film maker shows some stereotypical film to current day young native american children to see their reactions.  its a very powerful scene.  and..........who knew THIS?  iron eyes cody....that iconic indian who shed a tear because of the way americans littered nature.....he was SICILIAN!  he BECAME indian, appearing in over 100 films as an indian.  even his son lives as a native american today.  billy jack was one of the first films that changed the look and stereotype--the indians started to fight back and we rooted for THEM. in the 70's, the indians actually DID fight back against the US military at wounded knee.  th that's when marlon brando sent the native american woman to not accept his oscar for "the godfather" at the academy awards show.  finally, the film "smoke signals" opened the door for native americans making films about and for native americans.  they discuss one that i'll have to look for, "atanarjuat", written, directed and acted entirely by first nation.  i know this post is significantly longer than my others.  since my days at the arch, maybe since i first saw that indian pull up in his canoe and shed that tear, i've been intrigued by the native american view of the earth.  i think it's tragic that the progress of our country included such destruction of that culture.  i really enjoyed this film and i look forward to seeking out others like this.  film is powerful; it certainly determined what the common culture would see and believe regarding the native americans.