I just went through the fall 2009 American Indian Library Association (AILA) Newsletter and, on page 9, saw mention of a project to remaster Edward Curtis’s 1914 film “In the Land of the Head Hunters,” which preceded “Nanook of the North” as the first feature-length film to star all Native North Americans. Rutgers University has a website at http://www.curtisfilm.rutgers.edu/ dedicated to the project, which includes cool audiovisuals as well as discussions about the historical context of the making of the film and how Kwakwaka’wakw consultants and descendants of the cast are working on the restoration project. It is an extraordinary audiovisual artifact made even more so by the way that it helped to maintain and stimulate a culture and how its preservation continues to contribute to the reflection of the past and to fomenting culture.
Monthly Archives: January 2010
For the Rights of All: Ending Jim Crow in Alaska
For the Rights of All: Ending Jim Crow in Alaska (http://www.nativenetworks.si.edu/eng/orange/for_the_rights_of_all.html) will be screened at the NMAI NYC on February 20, 2009. Click here for directions: http://www.nativenetworks.si.edu/eng/blue/atm_10.html#feb
Weaving: “Skins” and “Edge of America”
A few weeks ago, I saw Skins again after a long time and also caught Edge of America. Both are Chris Eyre films. I like his work. His films tend to deal with poignant issues in nuanced ways, incorporating drama and humor, Western and Native culture, and sometimes, just when you think that there’s about to be a cliché, you see the potentially righteously self-righteous one get schooled on why their kettle is black.
Skins is the story of two brothers, played by Graham Greene (Rudy) and Eric Shweig (Mogie), who have taken divergent paths and their journey towards finding harmony, in one case within himself (from the native perspective, his imbalance is symbolized the trickster, personified as it were, by the spider who follows him) but also with each other. Around this story of family bonds, Eyre weaves context: the reality of living on the Pine Ridge Reservation, which includes a large rate of alcoholism. He does so in a subtle way, including news clips but also social commentary by the characters. I always tell folks that for me, a good presentation at a conference is based on humor. If you can make me laugh, you can make me enjoy what you’re telling me and I’ll know you’re going to hit me with some bright stuff. In a similar way, when movies make you laugh even about serious topics, you learn without it being preachy and, like a Facebook friend recently said, “I like the kind of humor that makes you laugh for a minute and think for ten” (or something to that effect; dang Mafia Wars status updates are so friggin’ long I couldn’t re-check the exact quote). Anyway, the Eyre movies I’ve seen always add humor to serious topics and they go down easier and stay with me longer. So, if your class is looking at family, the effects of alcohol on native communities, and native religion/spirituality and politics, I think this movie would be good to check out.
Edge of America would also be good to look at for its treatment of religion/spirituality as well as alternative perspectives and ways of dealing with issues that affect young people. Just as a story is woven above, one character in this film is an actual weaver and teaches the professor, and us, about certain key differences between western and native perspectives. It is also an interesting and funny look at race relations between minorities, in this case between the black English professor who comes to the community and ends up coaching the girls’ basketball team, and the Navajo community who he encounters and who encounters him. This was pretty cool to see because there is usually so much emphasis on white -minority relations and not as much on minority -minority relations. I thought the dialog, the incremental steps at mutual understanding and the humor made it a pretty cool film. So, thumbs up for these two films. I think you may enjoy them.
Club Native
Happy New Year folks! Comps. exam done and I’m back.
Only 10 months after I saw it at the 2009 Native American Film Festival at the NMAI in NYC, here is my summary of Club Native. In short: I thought it was a great film and highly recommend it!
Club Native traces the lives of four women and their relationship to their Mohawk identity. In order to obtain membership within their nation, two of the women must go before a council which uses Canada’s law regarding blood quantum as one of the factors in deciding whether they are to remain enrolled members. The transparency and fairness of the council comes into question and we hear the women’s compelling stories – why their bi-raciality does not make them any less Mohawk, except to some.
The other two women are in danger of losing membership not because of their blood quantum but due to their marriage partners – white men. The laws related to Mohawk women “marrying out” are not the same as they are for Mohawk men. Consequently, there is more pressure on women to marry in or relinquish membership to their community. I remember that the few people who seemed to be in favor of this status quo in the film were Mohawk men and I was curious as to why there was so much emphasis on marrying Mohawk men and not the other way around. That was one aspect of the film that I needed more clarity about.
The director, Tracey Deer, does a great job throughout but these two women’s stories are even more compelling. This may have to do partly with the fact that one of the women is Deer’s sister and we get a very intimate access to her life. And when I say intimate, I mean it: we see the birth of her child! There are many points in the film when I teared up and got goosebumps or laughed – as though these were people I knew. That’s how close you got. So, I think Deer is a really great director just based on that (she doubtless has gotten confirmation of this from all over but it was nice to see one of the men during the Q&A say that she has blossomed into a great filmmaker; Deer identified the man as someone from her community so it was an extra touching moment). But when that girl had her baby on film, I loved her (the sister is very endearing for her warm and funny ways) more for the honor of being able to see such a private moment. The other woman was an athlete who competed in the Olympics when she was younger and had even been featured on a high profile publication (Newsweek or Time). She was active politically both as a youngster and still is now. All the women were remarkable in their own way. Very poignant documentary – loved it.
For those of you interested, I found a related essay: Simpson, Audra. “Paths Toward a Mohawk Nation: Narratives of Citizenship and Nationhood in Kahnawake.” In Political Theory and the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, edited by Duncan Ivison, Paul Patton and Will Sanders, 113-136. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. It’s pretty academic but it also contains some short narratives about how issues related to blood quantum affects Mohawks.
