Good Films About Indigenous People
Duuuuuude! Check out the MUBI World Cup! That’s what it’s all about!
Well, I guess I’m now busted for not really reading those threads. :)
When you mean indigenous though it sounds like you mean not just people who were born in and grew up in a certain area, but people from a culture whose ancestors who have also been living in an area for MANY generations and have held on to certain cultures despite other cultures coming in to colonize?
If that’s the case I can try to put together the best of the World Cup I’ve seen so far that seem to fit this description.
If that’s the case I can try to put together the best of the World Cup I’ve seen so far that seem to fit this description.
Yes, that’s basically it; and yes, I’d be interested in seeing what you come up with.
Walkabout.
Not in films, necessarily, but I found Joseph Conrad’s first two novels… interesting. Almayer’s Folly and Outcast of the Islands. Been a while since I read em but I recall dying wanting to adapt them. Yes, I realize there are films of them – but I haven’t seen em!
And there’s always Cannibal Holocaust.
While I didn’t particularly like it I think Whale Rider fits the description of what you are looking for.
La Otra Conquista
Samson and Delilah 2009
5/5
Sure, I’ll try to make a list. Here’s one from Peru from a recent World Cup match that a lot of people seemed to like that i think would fit your description:
It felt indigenous at least
some (“good”) films …by indigenous (Cree, Inuit, Maori, Australian aboriginal, etc) filmmakers
If the Weather Permits (2003, Elisapie Isaax)
Atanarjuat (2001, Zacharias Kunuk)
The Journals of Knud Rasmussen (2006, Zacharias Kunuk)
Kanehsatake (1993, Alanis Obomsawin)
Mohawk Girls (2005, Tracey Deer)
Reel Injun (2009, Neil Diamond)
Smoke Signals (1998, Chris Eyre)
Skins (2002, Chris Eyre)
Night Cries (1990, Tracey Moffatt)
Boy (2010, Taika Waititi) Maori
Patu! (1983, Merata Mita)
I keep reading this thread as “ingenious” instead of “indigenous”.
Walkabout isn’t really about indigenous people though ,is it? Seems like like a very colonial take on the subject, and it’s more about the ‘foreigners’ adapting to their new environment.
Samson and Delilah is very good. It benefits from having a more ‘authentic’ perspective because it was written, shot and directed by a guy that is aboriginal himself. Easily the best Australian debut i’ve seen in a long time.
I can see why it won the award at Cannes.
What about Rabbit Proof Fence? That’s about indigenous people, isn’t it?
I liked that movie.
^^yeah, but it’s still coming from a very ‘white guilt’ perspective in my opinion. It’s decent though.
The great thing about S+D is that the characters are on their own. They are totally cut off from the outside world. There is no noble white man to save them. They have to fend for themselves.
Walkabout isn’t really about indigenous people though ,is it?
Right. If you want a film about indegenous Australians from their own perspective check out Ten Canoes!
^^nice one Riss! was going to mention that earlier but got sidetracked by fucking Santino ;-) hahha
Ten Canoes is very good.
hey, what’s wrong with white guilt? The Help made a killing over here!
Reassemblage.
Probably the greatest ethnographic film ever made.
“In Anampor, Andre Monger says his name is listed in the tourist information book. Above the entry of his house is a handwritten sign which says, ‘350 Francs.’ A flat, anthropological fact.”
I’d post the link but it’s not safe here. Contact me…
“Walkabout isn’t really about indigenous people though ,is it? Seems like like a very colonial take on the subject, and it’s more about the ‘foreigners’ adapting to their new environment.”
“The great thing about S+D is that the characters are on their own. They are totally cut off from the outside world. There is no noble white man to save them. They have to fend for themselves.”
Right, one must draw a distinction between movies featuring indigenous people and movies about or representing indigenous perspectives. Otherwise we’re recommending Dances with Wolves right beside The Business of Fancydancing and Australia beside Ten Canoes.
—PolarisDiB
Smoke Signals 2/5
Powwow Highway <—- have not seen yet
what about the exiles (1961)?
i love black robe and little big man but i know — white guilt :P
also i happen to know quite a few indigenous people, many of whom seem to love films like dances with wolves and thunderheart. of course this doesn’t make them ‘good films’
I think Arthur Penn was a white guy but I want to throw Little Big Man in here.
I’d argue Dances With Wolves was good.
well arthur penn was a white guy and so is costner of course, but the larger point is those films aren’t about the indian experience so much as a white person’s perspective on it (white guilt = revisionist history as in we weren’t all assholes). they are notable as early examples of positive portrayal of natives in hollywood films.
tong tana
Two votes for Ten Canoes, huh? I heard good things about that one.
DiB said, Right, one must draw a distinction between movies featuring indigenous people and movies about or representing indigenous perspectives.
Yeah, I’m more interested in the latter. (But that doesn’t mean a non-indigenous person couldn’t have made the film.)
DiB could you say a little more about The Business of Fancydancing
isn’t that the same guy who wrote smoke signals? ^
anyone have an opinion on once were warriors? i liked it
Totally agree with you Ruby, “Once Were Warriors” is a very powerful film!
Are documentaries okay?
If so, I’d recommend the classic “First Contact.”
and “Cannibal Tours”
Jazzaloha
I’m thinking especially of films made by an indigenous person—e.g., Fast Runner (which I thought was a good film)—but I don’t want to limit the discussion to those films either. I love the film Utu, and as far as I know Geoff Murphy is not part Maori. There’s a couple of other films from made by Maori filmmakers that are decent, if not good. What other films about indigenous people are interesting or worth checking out?