Customer Reviews

Reel Injun

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Neil Diamond has created a comprehensive documentary about the negative and faulty portrayal of Native American Indians in film from the 1940's-50's to the 1990's when the portrayal of Indians finally experienced a refreshing renewal.
However, there is still a lot of work to do before the Hollywood Indian finally sheds the stereotypical representation that has plagued it, and Native identity, for so many years.

This video is useful in my classroom as part of my First Nations Studies courses. It is not really entertaining, but it's informative and revealing.

This DVD has a few interesting clips and facts but falls short of being truly informative. The information here could quite easily be found online with a few key search words. I'm very happy it was put together by a Native American, but found it disappointing. If you find this in a bargain bin, I say get it but I would not pay full price for it.

I agree with the others that this is an amazingly educational documentary about "classic" movie stereotypes and the battle to bring them more in line with both historical and current reality. Several striking scenes and near-revelations impressed me while watching it:

The native schoolroom where young children are watching "Little Big Man", agreed to be the first film ever to depict US cavalry massacres of native villages with reasonable accuracy;

Learning that despite common stereotypes, the Crow were the only natives to be skilled horsemen; and quite a few others. Oh, yes, almost forgot -- considerable resentment that many movies depicted Lakotas as totally inept in battle, despite their being the first to confront the US military.

One interesting part of this film which other reviewers seem to have missed dealt with the relatively recent introduction of films made by (and more or less primarily for) the native Americans (excuse me, human beings, another error pointed out) themselves, such as "Smoke Signals" which I've already bought, and "Dance Me Outside", which I've newly added to my Cart. This interest in a realistic look at native peoples is apparently becoming a world-wide phenomenon, as shown by the emergence of films like "Rabbit Proof Fence", about the long-standing mistreatment of Australian abos.

Anyone interested in the construction in the "American Injun" and the unfortunate stereotypes perpetuated by Hollywood should definitely purchase this documentary. In fact, not only will it inform any discussion revolving around issues of representations of the First Peoples of Turtle Island, but also forward any discussion involving the construction of identity by the media barons of production.