Taylor turns unique perspective to new releases

Page 9

The latest in the "I'm so fascinated by Indians I just have to make a

film about them" movie opened on March 10. Dance Me Outside, directed

by Bruce MacDonald, pieces together several W.P. Kinsella short stories

(how Altmanesque) into quite a wonderfully shot and acted film detailing

the life of a couple of down home rez boys and girls. Politics and

accuracy aside, the film hits on many levels.

But more than anything, it's another example of Hollywood and its

Canadian equivalent's increasing preoccupation with Natives and their

ways of life. Even Disney is coming out with an elaborate cartoon

version of Pocahontas. I hear her guardian spirit will be a large

mouse.

Any Warhol used to say everybody will be famous for 15 minutes. If

you're Indian, you can count on a call from the coast babe, and bring

your shades. You're not signing the contract until you get at least a

good 90 minutes, with an option for a sequel. "Have your Indian agent

call me."

And when they say they want their own Winnebago, they're talking about

the tribe in Wisconsin.

With so many films about Native people having come out in the last few

years, it's hard to keep track of which ones are good, and which ones

should be shot with a burning arrow and left to die on an ant hill.

I, however, have some suggestions:

Dances With Wolves -- The granddaddy of them all. Kevin Costner's epic

homage to the romantic Indian. A beautifully shot and conceived film

but I have to admit it, I kept looking for someone in the film to say "I

never met an Indian I didn't like." Since its premiere many winters

ago, this film has taken on a sort of mythic quality to it, the way Star

Wars did for sci-fi films. If that's true, I'm waiting for all the

little Lt. John Dunbar and Wind In His Hair action figures.

Powwow Highway -- An absolutely marvelous little film starring A.

Martinez and Gary Farmer, executive produced by Beatle George Harrison.

An old-fashioned road movie, sort of a heavily tanned comedic version

of Of Mice and Men. Simply put, a story of redemption and pride, of

Gary Farmer in a bad wig, and A. Martinez scowling better then anybody I

know. Once you see this film, you'll have a whole new respect for your

car.

Black Robe -- Never saw it. Didn't want to see it. Read the book.

Reason why I didn't want to see it. but thanks to this movie, our

biggest secret is now out. Yes, it's true. Indians do have sex. And

the fact it was with religious missionaries was oddly prophetic of

future events, like residential schools.

Clearcut -- An awful movie starring the amazing Graham Greene.

I remember being asked to read the script for a funding agency and

thinking to myself as I read it, "You've got to be kidding?" Graham

Greene kidnaps white journalist and industrialist and proceeds to

torture and do all sorts of despicable things that only a Native person

can do.

And there's also the implication he might be a spirit. The Native

community is full of spirits, you can't swing a dead beaver without

hitting a spirit.

Last of the Mohicans -- The great-looking story of great-looking white

people and great-looking Indians in a great-looking forest. Directed by

Michael Mann, the guy who gave you Miami Vice, it's a great-looking

movie. I don't remember my history teacher telling me the French-Indian

wars were this great-looking.

Thunderheart -- It has everything a good Hollywood story should have;

drama, a love story, a car chase, a mysterious murder, intrigue, Graham

Greene. Val Kilmer and his faithful Indian companion (boy, that sounds

familiar) search for murders in "the fourth world", a Sioux

Reservation. Loosely based on real incidents surrounding Leonard

Peltier and events at the Pine Ridge Reservation, this film, however,

had a fairly happy ending. If only art did imitate life.

Shadow of the Wolf -- The resident Hollywood Indian, Lou Diamond

Phillips, makes a stab at being Inuit this time, with his Inuit wife,

Jennifer Tilley and his Inuit father, Tishiro Mifune(!?). One of the

most expensive Canadian films made, it disappeared like the Arctic sun

in wintertime. While made as a serious drams, a friend of mine who

lived in the Arctic for two years actually found it to be a comedy.

On Deadly Ground -- Steven Seagal's attempt at directing and making a

statement. The statement is this man should not direct. Seagal plays

the stereotypical avenging white angel come to save the poor people of

Alaska from evil oil men. I particularly loved the scene where he is

having his "vision" and he finds himself at a fork in a cave tunnel.

One leads to a beautiful, naked young lady undulating across a fur bed,

the other path leads to an old, wise-looking Elder just staring at him.

Him being pure of spirit (having just killed a dozen people) he chooses

the old woman. I guess he wasn't a missionary.

Geronimo -- This film should be thrown out of a plane without a

parachute. A very dusty film that tries to boil down a dozen years into

two hours and leaves you wondering, who cares? Made by the usually

reliable Water Hill, the cast boasts Wes Studi and Jason Patric as

sympathetic adversaries in the deserts of the American Southwest. My

favorite exchange: West Studi saying stoically "I am Geronimo. Who are

you?" Jason Patric as a cavalry Lieutenant replying a serious and

intense whisper "I'm a man. Just like you." Yep, that's what cavalry

and Apaches used to say to each other all the time.

Maverick -- While not exactly classified as a Native film it does

however feature the always present Graham Greene in standard Hollywood

Aboriginal gear as a Native Mel Gibson, attitude-wise, anyways.

After seeing this film, I couldn't help but wonder what this character

was doing out in the bush dodging bullets when he could be a great

stand-up comic. "OK, this Cree, Sioux and Pawnee walked into a bar, the

first one said; 'And by the way, did you know popcorn was invented by

Native people? and the chocolate M&M's you eat the Coke you drink, are

derived frm another Native source, the Cocoa plant.' Going to the

movies can be a positively Aboriginal experience.