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Native American Films
Native American films are produced for entertainment and informational purposes.
Many people are fascinated with Native Americans. As the First Nation of this
country, the Indian Americans lost their land to settlers, fought various
wars, and so forth. The majority of Native American films centers around the
Indians fight for their land. This includes Indians waging war with the English,
and being graphically defeated. Some films portray real life Native American
characters, in which a few scenes or story lines are loosely based on true
accounts. On the other hand, some films are pure fiction. These portray
stories of love, hardships, and provide insight into the daily life of the
American Indians.
Western movies are closely tied to Native American films. In many instances,
old western or cowboy movies included various scenes with Indians or Native
Americans. Because western movies consist primarily of gunfights and shootouts,
the movie plot typically included the cowboys fighting for Indian land. There
are a lot of films that focus on Native Americans. True narratives include
movies such as “The Ride to Wounded Knee,” “Even if a Hundred
Ogres,” etc. Moreover, there are numerous Native American film documentaries.
One popular documentary is “Nokomis: Voices of Anishinabe Grandmothers.” Many
films are available from classic film libraries or online Native American
video dealers. Additionally, various colleges and universities have an extensive
collection of Native American film and television programs.
There are also a large number of modern Native American films. Classic productions
include the Kevin Costner favorite, “Dances with Wolves,” and the
1990’s production, “Last of the Mohicans.” Because of the
small number of Native American actors in Hollywood, the majority of Indian
roles go to Hispanic or African American actors. In some instances, skilled
makeup artist have been able to make over Caucasian actors into Native Americans.
Joseph Paige © 2006
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