Tag Archives: abuse

feature film

“The Only Good Indian”

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Trailer for The Only Good Indian

This feature film, like Older than America, revolves around the theme of Indian boarding schools but provides some more nuance since it is played from the perspective of three characters, two of which have troubled pasts. Although the film dragged a little bit at certain parts for me, I liked it because of the complexity brought to these characters as well as the fact that the movie covers a chapter in history that I don’t think is well known by many. Attendance at these boarding schools, which were infamous for adhering to the slogan “Kill the Indian, Save the Man,” became compulsory  in 1891, and both Older than America and this film delve into not only the emotional and physical abuse that these children endured, but also the sexual abuse and the issue of mental health. The latter is of particular interest to me because I have started to conduct research in the area of wrongful confinement. Historically, people have been wrongfully held in mental institutions for not confining to society’s version of normality and it seems that Indians who were deemed recalcitrant suffered a similar fate.  (This blog discusses the insane asylum that the U.S. government built for “insane” Indians and an upcoming book by the blogger. I have also read about another asylum built for mentally ill Cherokees in 1873.)

The film’s protagonist is a young Kickappoo boy who is kidnapped into a boarding school and summarily, if superficially, made “white”: he is shorn of his long hair, told he is now a Methodist, given the name “Charlie,” and has his mouth washed out with soap when he refuses to speak English. Charlie soon runs away from the institution but is tracked down by a Cherokee bounty hunter named Sam Franklin (played by Wes Studi). While he doesn’t deny his heritage, Sam, who rides a motorcycle and dreams of becoming a detective a the Pinkerton Agency, believes that success lies in assimilating into white society. And he tries to convince Charlie of this throughout their road trip of sorts. Along the way, Sam  is pitted against his old nemesis, Sheriff Henry McCoy. While on the face of it, McCoy is the most harsh and unfeeling characters, he has one of the most poignant lines in the film when he questions whether his past killing of Indians is any worse than the cultural genocide that is undertaken by the boarding schools. Although the films themes are strong ones, it also manages to be a fun road trip movie.

I think this is a good film to show classes who are studying Indian boarding schools, mental illness and wrongful confinement, assimilation, and the perspectives of Indian fighters (McCoy) and scouts (Franklin). It is also a good segue into a discussion that compares forced cultural assimilation and genocide, too. Definitely a lot to discuss!

feature film, Film Review

Older than America

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Older Than America trailer

Older Than America is the story of a young teacher who is haunted by dreams and visions about the abuses that went on in Indian boarding schools. Prior to watching it, I had only read about the schools’ assimilationist policies which required Native American children to abandon native dress and language – the violent policy of “Kill the Indian, Save the Man.” In this regard, the film reminded me of the Australian film Rabbit Proof Fence. I had not realized that in addition to the emotional toil that being stripped of your culture would have on a young child (or anyone, really), and the difficulty of having to spend long periods of time away from their families, the children were also verbally and physically abused, including raped. I think this is one more example of how widespread the increasingly visible pedophilia scandal in the Catholic church really is. In the film, the teacher slowly comes to learn about her mother’s past and the film attempts to bring some kind of closure to a painful chapter in both Native American history but also in the specific lives of the young teacher, played by director Georgina Lightning, and her mother and aunt, played by Tantoo Cardinal. 

I thought the film was powerful and important to make. It sheds light on a painful topic and it has probably served to bring about conversations and healing in communities affected by these violations. Since I have done some research into the history of mental illness, I also appreciated the fact that this was a central part of the story. I also appreciate the title of the film, which refers to native life ways, because I think it calls into question colonial cultural impositions. This is emphasized throughout the film by the romantic partnership between Lightning’s and Adam Beach’s character, which is contested by the indoctrinated aunt and U.S. legal authority but which is validated by Beach’s character’s father, a respected elder who is played by Dennis Banks.

That said, my one gripe with the film is the binary opposition that I saw surface at one point when I felt like native spirituality was conflated with “good” and Christianity with “bad.” I think that in order to break from a western epistemological framework, it’s important to see Native American religion or spirituality being emphasized on equal footing with Christianity. And I am not an apologist for the Catholic church. I think the crimes of the representatives of the Catholic Church are infuriating, that victims deserve  more swift reaction from the Church authorities and to see the perpetrators be held accountable for their crimes. But, the representatives of the Church aren’t the Church in its more  spiritual form. I’m hoping that there were some kind nuns and priests who could have manifested themselves in the film. And I’m willing to bet that there are open minded Native American Catholics, including many people who practice a syncretic form of Catholicism which mixes Christian and native life ways. I would have liked to see a more nuanced treatment of this. I realize we could get into a debate about the fact that Christianity is one of the main colonial cultural impositions. Had it not been for it and the broader colonial project, there would have been no boarding schools and therefore abuses. This is a valid point, of course. But I think nuance is important. It’s part of history. It’s part of life. And I think it’s helpful and necessary to see that. (This all reminds me of an article in the March 2010 AHA Perspectives by Philippa Levine called “The Trouble with Film.”)

Despite the long nature of my gripe, it is a powerful film. I think it would be eye opening for many and could be used in classes that discussed native spirituality, colonization, and the privileging of U.S. over native life ways. And Lightning is certainly a notable and talented artist.

I also wanted to note that as I watched the credits role at the end of the film, I was struck by all that goes into the making of films. In this case, I was especially impressed by credits listing mental health as well as cultural consultants. It made me wonder how many films that portray Native American cultures have cultural consultants. I’ll have to start checking.

Until next time…