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feature film

Imprint

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Imprint Trailer

I just watched Imprint, a 2007 thriller directed by Chris Eyre that is set on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. It tells the story of Shayla Stonefeather, a Lakota prosecutor, who, along with her white partner and boyfriend, takes a case against a Lakota teenager who is found guilty of murder. Soon after the case is over, she returns to the reservation and we learn that her father is in a vegetable state which came on soon after the disappearance of her brother, who had problems with meth. The rest of the story involves Shayla trying to understand the meaning behind the strange voices and spirits she sees in her parents’ home, partly with the guidance of a medicine man, and with some help from an old flame named Tom.

I thought the film was suspenseful, had cool effects, and beautiful landscapes. If you are interested in more Native thrillers, you may want to check out two films that are adapted from Tony Hillerman novels. These are Skinwalkers and A Thief of Time, which were incidentally both also directed by Chris Eyre, but are both set on Navajo territory. (I haven’t yet seen Coyote Waits.) Although Shayla is a strong female lead, I hadn’t considered, as does this reviewer, that this is something out of the ordinary for Native films. While some feature films like Smoke Signals or Skins center on men, I think of strong female protagonists in movies like Edge of America, Older than America, or the documentary On the Rez. So, while I think having a strong female lead is great, I had already felt like Indian women are shown as strong, substantial characters or people in quite a few films. I also did not understand what the reviewer meant when she says that this is not a conventionally Indian movie, since the many Native films I’ve seen show that Indian directors, like directors from all over, produce innovative, surprising material that shows they are thinking outside of the box. Which is why I was annoyed to see (spoiler alert) the white boyfriend cast as the villain. I liked that the film countered some stereotypical views, like the  fact that it centers around a middle class family as opposed to a poor Lakota family. Pine Ridge tends to be portrayed as very downtrodden (Skins and Children of the Plains are two examples). And I was glad that although you could see Shayla and Tom getting back together, they didn’t actually have a romantic scene. But why do the parents have to instinctually dislike the white boyfriend? Actually, he turns out to be a jerk, so that’s fine. But why does the jerk have to be white? As the reviewer above points out, why not make him another ethnicity and really surprise us?

The other theme that I think is important but doesn’t get thoughtfully developed is the whole idea of “selling out.” Shayla is depicted as having “sold out” just because she took a case against a Lakota. Her car is vandalized and her mother also equates her cold-heartedness as being an identity issue; of not “knowing who she is.” It seems like the conflicts that I think many Indians must face regarding identity and assimilation and culture deserve to leave the viewer questioning to what degree or in what ways can one can assimilate another culture and still maintain one’s own? In other words, it’s a pretty complex, messy, and controversial topic that deserves more. Rather, in this film, I felt like the issue is too neatly tied up. The story develops in such a way that serving as prosecutor against your own kind seems to be equated with selling out and once Shayla realizes the error of her ways, she seems to be almost cleansed and becomes good again. I should point out that had the racially biased nature of the trial been developed more, I may have felt less strongly about this point. Also, one can’t fault Eyre too much for possibly wanting to make a good thriller and leave it at that. Every movie can’t deal with all societal concerns.

So, it’s a good thriller with an interesting story that is beautifully shot, but the cliche character and the simplistic treatment of the issue of identity left me wanting more. In terms of using this in the classroom, I would think it might be of interest to film students because of the special effects, cinematography, and plot twist. Also, the medicine man speaks in Lakota and this may be of interest to people studying the language. Those teaching about the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation may also be interested in its depiction in this film.

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…