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Reviews
Thunderheart (1992)
Where to begin?
The Good: The actors are okay, not the best, but not the worst, and something like this really happened on Pine Ridge during the 70s.
The Bad: This will appeal to the "wannabe Indian" demographic. In addition, the characters are all one-dimensional stereotypes.
The Ugly: Cliché setting. (I thought Pine Ridge went out with Billy Jack.) Special effects were kinda New Agey. It was too paternalistic: white hero, Indian victims.
Spirit: A Journey in Dance, Drums & Song (1998)
So many complaints, and only 1,000 words
Yet another Wannabe Indian presentation from Kevin Costner. A mixture of woodland, plains, and Southwestern imagery. A white guy finds out that he's Indian, and of course lives, not as Indians do today, but as Americans ASSUME Indians lived five hundred years ago.
There's only one thing missing that would make this musical worthwhile: Reality. Yes, many people decided they were ashamed of being native, as producer Joseph Rael tells PBS during a telethon, but guess what? The 70s saw an Indian renaissance.
All in all, this performance is fairly archetypal: White guy finds out about Indian heritage. Why is it always a white guy? I mean, there are numerous black people with Indian ancestors; until the 60s, things like straight hair and high cheekbones were a mark of beauty in the black community. What about a Mexican with Indian ancestors? (As if there are any Mexicans without some Indian ascent.) Secondly, where are the Indians? We have no idea what the Indians are going to say about him.
Smoke Signals (1998)
A refreshing alternative to the mainstream
When describing Hollywood, Sherman Alexie has oftentimes said "They want loincloths, and that's not what I'm about." True, loincloths have clout in Hollywood, pun intended, which is probably why there was so little advertising for Smoke Signals.
Instead, Smoke Signals portrays Indians as human beings. In it, Victor has to recover his father's ashes and return them to the rez. However, he doesn't have much money, so he goes to Thomas, who he normally won't have anything to do with, because Thomas is always telling stories. But Thomas is the only one who can afford a bus ride to Phoenix. There's a catch, however: Victor has to take Thomas with him.
There are many references you have to be Indian to get, like the passport joke, but even if you're not Indian, I recommend this movie.
Dances with Wolves (1990)
As we would say on the rez, chesli
I'm sorry, but your apologia has not been accepted. There actually was a Dunbar, and he was really a Christian missionary.
And they could've at least gotten a native actress to play Stands with Fist, but nooooo...
To make matters worse, this movie started a whole trend of wannabe Indians. Ask any Indian, we find them VERY annoying. All they're interested in is what they want Indians to be.
Once we get past the racism, Costner's acting is sub par, as usual. What can we expect from a guy whose debut was playing a frat boy?
Oh, on the lighter side, American censors cut out a scene where Costner says "Big buffalo" and one of the Indians says "Actually it was a little buffalo." You can guess what they thought he was talking about. And Costner's probably is fairly small, judging by the fact that he is speaking the female Lakota dialect throughout the movie. LOL