500 Nations aims for accuracy

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Prime Talk walks the Red Road. This is what CBS is planning with the much talked-about documentary 500 Nations.

Tentatively scheduled to air in April of 1995, it will run for eight hours in total - four nights, two hours per night. The on-air host will be Kevin Costner, guaranteeing an enormous audience draw. As well as hosting the series, Costner's commitment to the project extends to financing the entire cost.

The production company, Pathways Productions, was formed solely to create 500 Nations, and the head of research was Lee Miller. A Native American herself, Miller went on the road for almost a year, travelling to nearly 60 reservations in search of something unusual for Hollywood: Accuracy.

She was also one of the writers, producer for the interview segments, and involved in the focus of the entire show. Miller has written a companion book to the show, entitled From The Heart, which should hit the stores just before air time.

The title itself was Miller's idea, replacing the original working title The Native Americans.

"This term is unacceptable to me for two reasons. First, it is too generic. In fact, in my wildest imagination I would be at a loss to come up with a term any worse - we are not a homogenous race. If nations want to retain their sovereignty, and issues of sovereignty are so vital to all sorts of legal issues, (including land claims, hunting and fishing rights, sacred site protection, etc.), then we must continue to demand that Indian nations are recognized as separate and distinct cultural and political entities. Bonafide nations in the truest sense of the term, but not a race.

"A second related problem with Native Americans is that I see it as yet another attempt by the federal government to turn the nations into ethnic groups, such as Italian Americans, Japanese Americans, Irish Americans, Native Americans...no thanks."

The goal of this series is to present historical events, not fiction, something Miller feels strongly about.

"I believe that the American public still needs to understand the basic atrocities which occurred over the past four centuries. Indian people are all too familiar with them. However, despite all the books on the subject which have been published over the last 20 years, most Americans have still had little exposure to it. Most school systems still don't teach Indian history, certainty not in any in-depth way and rarely from the Indian point of view.

"The reaction which Dances With Wolves received shows that the public is responsive now to Indian history, is moved by the tragedy, and I presume, ready for

truth. It is my belief that we can move on to successful Indian documentaries on other issues, we need to bring the public up-to-speed, so to speak, and give them a baseline of understanding.

"They have to understand who you were and what you went through to bring you to the point where you are now. Land claim issues, social issues, cultural identity...even our humor. Everything about who we are or the issues we pursue ultimately involves our history, and I believe we will all benefit from helping the public to reach stage one before we can take them to stage two.

"Finally, we do history because very often stories and cultural practices (especially ceremonies!) are private and personal. To be held within the nations only, and transmitted in an appropriate way- not on national television. I, for one, would not have worked on a project which exposed sacred, non-public information in any way. We were extremely fortunate that the producer and director for the series, Jack Leustig, made a commitment to traditional people, and felt the same way."

Another first was the production's insistence on consulting the Native communities themselves regarding the stories. Miller took every single story which dealt with a nation to that nation for their input. She travelled from the Aleutian Islands to Florida, and drove from one coast to another. She met with Elders everyhere, spoke to senior citizens' groups, went to people's homes - everywhere honoring traditional older people for their knowledge.

Miller thinks this series really will reflect Native views accurately.

"There are areas in which we took the Indian point of view on a fact even when at odds with standard scholarship, which may prompt some criticism from white scholars. For example, the date of the founding of the Hodensaune Confederacy we place, as we have been told the people, several centuries before the date scholars assign it. I am extremely elated over this. I have not seen the final script though. After the show airs,

I'll be able to say whether it was consistent with my input."

Originally there were 300 stories prepared for the show when CBS picked it up. The network trimmed it down from 13 hours to eight, including commercials and host time, so substantial cuts were made. The remaining segments involving Canadian nations feature the eastern fur trade, and an Inuit piece from Baffin Island.

The series has many historical Native quotes throughout and Native actors were brought in to read them, including Canadians Tom Jackson, Eric Schweig, Tantoo Cardinal, Gary Farmer and Gordon Tootoosis.