Reel Injun
Reel Injun | |
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Directed by |
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Written by |
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Produced by |
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Starring |
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Cinematography | Edith Labbe |
Edited by |
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Music by |
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Production companies | |
Distributed by | Domino Film |
Release dates |
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Running time | 85 minutes |
Country | Canada |
Language | English |
Reel Injun is a 2009 Canadian documentary film directed by
Reel Injun explores the various stereotypes about Natives in film, from the noble savage to the drunken Indian.[3] It profiles such figures as Iron Eyes Cody, an Italian American who reinvented himself as a Native American on screen.[4] The film also explores Hollywood's practice of using Italian Americans and American Jews to portray Indians in the movies and reveals how some Native American actors made jokes in their native tongue on screen when the director thought they were simply speaking gibberish.[5]
Conception
The film was inspired, in part, by Diamond's own experiences as a child in
Interviews
Interview subjects include Sacheen Littlefeather, Zacharias Kunuk, Clint Eastwood, Adam Beach, Jim Jarmusch, Robbie Robertson, Russell Means, Wes Studi, and scholars Angela Aleiss and Melinda Micco, and film critic Jesse Wente.[2][3][7][8]
Locations
The documentary is partly structured as a
Release
In
In the United States, the film premiered at the
Awards
Reel Injun received three awards at the
Credits
- Directed by Neil Diamond, Catherine Bainbridge, Jeremiah Hayes
- Written by Neil Diamond, Catherine Bainbridge, Jeremiah Hayes
- Cast: Adam Beach, Clint Eastwood, Chris Eyre, Charlie Hill, Jim Jarmusch, Sacheen Littlefeather, Russell Means, and John Trudell.
- Also featuring Angela Aleiss (author/film historian), Effie and James Atene (Navajo elders who were extras in John Ford films), Andre Dudemaine (Innu film historian), David Kiehn (silent film historian), Zacharias Kunuk, Richard Lamotte ("one of Hollywood's biggest costume designers"), Melinda Micco (Seminole film historian), Robbie Robertson (Mohawk recording artist), Rod Rondeaux (Crow stuntman), Wes Studi (Cherokee actor), and Jesse Wente (Ojibwe film critic).
- Produced by Catherine Bainbridge, Christina Fon, Linda Ludwick, Adam Symansky.
- Executive Producers: Catherine Bainbridge, Ravida Din, Christina Fon, Linda Ludwick, Catherine Olsen, Ernest Webb
- Original Music: Claude Castonguay, Mona Laviolette
- Cinematography: Edith Labbe
- Editor: Jeremiah Hayes
- Post-production supervisor: Tony Manolikakis
- Sound: Lynn Trepanier
- Visual research: Elizabeth Klinck
The renaissance of Native cinema
The documentary mentions the following movies as being part of the "Renaissance of Native cinema"—that is, movies by Native peoples about Native experiences, that "portray Native people as human beings" and depict Native cultures in an authentic way:
- Smoke Signals, 1998
- Dance Me Outside, 1994
- Flags of Our Fathers, 2006
- Atanarjuat -- The Fast Runner, 2001 -- "A film that has revolutionized Native cinema," and "the most Indian movie ever made." (see 1:18)
- Whale Rider, 2002—New Zealand
- Once Were Warriors, 1994—New Zealand
- Skins, 2002
- Ten Canoes, 2006—Australia
- Rabbit Proof Fence, 2002—Australia
Also worth mentioning is a silent film from 1930, The Silent Enemy (a reference to starvation), which this documentary calls "one of the most authentic films of its time, featuring real Native actors" (discussed 19 minutes into this documentary). In this documentary, silent film historian David Kiehn explains that, during the era of silent films, there was a great number of "Native American people directing and acting in films, and they were bringing their viewpoints to the table too. And those were being listened to". But then, according to this documentary, "[I]n the 1930s, [the Hollywood portrayal of] the Indian was transformed into a brutal savage". Film historian Angela Aleiss explains that "[T]here were a number of films that came out in the early 1930s that followed in the steps of The Silent Enemy, and the Indians were the stars of these movies, but... they just bombed at the box office. Americans [were] not that interested in them". The documentary asserts that "America, struggling through the Great Depression, [needed] a new brand of hero". Movies like Stagecoach, which pitted cowboys against Indians and portrayed Native Americans as "vicious and bloodthirsty", became the Hollywood image of Indians until the 1970s.
Native actors and performers
In addition to members of the cast (mentioned above), this documentary mentions the following Native actors and performers who helped to change the way Native peoples are portrayed:
- Charlie Hill—an Oneida-Cree comedian
- Muscogee (Creek) actor who played "Chief Bromden" in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) and "Ten Bears" in The Outlaw Josey Wales(1976)
- Chief Dan George—a Tsleil-Waututh actor and chief of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation who played "Old Lodge Skins" in Little Big Man (1970) and "Lone Watie" in The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976), and many other roles in other films
- Graham Greene—an Oneida actor who played "Kicking Bird" in Dances With Wolves (1990) and "Mogie Yellow Lodge" in Skins (2002), as well as other roles in many other films
- Adam Beach—a Saulteaux actor who played "Frank Fencepost" in Dance Me Outside (1994), "Victor" in Smoke Signals (1998), and "Ira Hayes" in Flags of Our Fathers (2006), among many other films
- Coast Salish actor who plays "Thomas Builds-the-Fire" in Smoke Signals(1998), among other films
- Natar Ungalaaq—an Inuit actor who played "Atanarjuat" in Atanarjuat -- The Fast Runner (2001), among other roles in other films
- Rod Rondeaux—a Crowstuntman
Plus:
- Chief Buffalo Child Long Lance—a tri-racial actor who played Baluk in The Silent Enemy (1930)
- Iron Eyes Cody—an Italian-American actor cast as Native American in many films and was the iconic American Indian shedding a tear in the famous "Keep America Beautiful" anti-litter public service advertisement on television in the late 1960s and 1970s.
See also
- Imagining Indians (1992)
- Inventing the Indian (2012)
- Reel Bad Arabs
References
- ^ New York Times. Retrieved 3 December 2010.
- ^ a b Adams, James. "Hollywood portrayals shaped native self-perception and non-native prejudice". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 3 December 2010.
- ^ a b c d Skenderis, Stephanie (18 February 2010). "A reel shame". CBC News. Retrieved 3 December 2010.
- ^ Pevere, Geoff (19 February 2010). "Cree director Neil Diamond's real look at reel Indians". Toronto Star. Retrieved 3 December 2010.
- ^ Denver Post.
- Hour magazine. Archived from the originalon 14 April 2010. Retrieved 3 December 2010.
- ^ Montreal Gazette. Retrieved 8 December 2010.[permanent dead link]
- ^ CBC Documentaries, "Reel Injun: On the Trail of the Hollywood Indian"
- ^ Weber, Bill (13 June 2010). "Reel Injun". Slant Magazine. Retrieved 8 December 2010.
- Austin Chronicle. Retrieved 8 December 2010.
- Canadian Press. 13 May 2010. Archived from the originalon 14 July 2011. Retrieved 3 December 2010.
- ^ "Reel Injun". Collection. National Film Board of Canada. Retrieved 3 December 2010.
- ^ 70th Annual Peabody Awards, May 2011.
- Montreal Gazette. Retrieved 15 April 2011.[permanent dead link]
External links
- Reel Injun at IMDb
- Reel Injun at Rotten Tomatoes
- Reel Injun at Metacritic
- Reel Injun site for PBS
- Reel Injun at the National Film Board of Canada
- National Film Board of Canada Collections page