Tag Archives: war

documentary, Film Screening

Tejiendo Sabiduria / We Women Warriors

2 Comments

 

Last Friday, I saw the premiere of We Women Warriors / Tejiendo Sabiduria at the IFC Center in the Village (NYC). This documentary, by Nicole Karsin, who was on hand for Q&A after the screening, followed three Colombian indigenous activists: Doris (Awá(, Ludis (Kankuamo), and Flor Ilva (Nasa). Their communities are caught between the military, FARC, and paramilitary forces and the attendant violence. Some of them have lost their husbands and are left as single parents, a situation they share with many women in their communities. While the killing of men has left many widows and fatherless children, women as well as children are also direct targets of violence. The film contains graphic content and shows how many people are so easily wrongly accused or framed. As female leaders, these three women are charged with making decisions on sensitive issues that affect their communities. They also work to find more sustainable working conditions. This includes a discussion about the irreconcilable positions of the protagonists of the war on drugs and (indigenous, in this case) farmers who have little alternatives to growing coca.

I often marvel at the footage that documentary filmmakers are able to capture given the risky circumstances they are filming. During the Q&A, I asked Karsin how she navigated the line between wanting to get these women’s (and people’s) stories to a greater audience, but also possibly putting them in danger as a result. Also, does having a film crew on hand help to temper a potentially violent situation? Karsin responded by noting that the Nasa themselves have better video equipment than she does and were on hand filming one of the events which I referred to (that could have taken a violent turn). Although I think that having a foreign filmmaker on hand at that particular event may have made a difference (although she did not, and with her experience, she would know better), the point is well taken that indigenous people are themselves protagonists in the documentation of these events. So, she was not putting them at greater risk than the community itself was taking in also filming. The time invested in documentaries also never ceases to impress me. In response to another moviegoer, Karsin noted that the film took 6 years to make, with varying degrees of time to gain the trust of the three women highlighted in the film, which has not yet been screened in Colombia.

This documentary would be useful for any class dealing with indigenous women in Latin America; the war on drugs and coca production; and the ongoing armed conflict in Colombia.

In signing off, I’d like to thank my cousin Yvonne who attended the film screening with me. I don’t think I gave her enough of an explanation about this film, so I think it was a rude awakening after having our quiet vegan dinner at Cafe Blossom a few blocks away! But she said she was glad to have attended because it’s good to see what’s going on out there in the rest of the world. Which would make a good slogan for a t-shirt for documentaries. And I couldn’t agree more. Until  next time…

 

documentary, Film Festivals

February & March 2012 Film Festivals

Leave a comment

Just a quick note to let you know about two film festivals you may want to check out. The first ever PBS Online Film Festival will include a few films produced by the Native American Publication Telecommunication (NAPT), including I Survived, The Migration, and Horse You See. And, for those of you near Palm Springs, check out the Agua Caliente Cultural Museum’s 2012 Festival of Native Film and Culture which will include Smokin’ Fish. Their website lists the program, but you can also read more about the festival here. Let me know what you think!

feature film

“The Only Good Indian”

Leave a comment

 

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!