THE LIST: NINE GREAT FIRST-NATION FILMS
Sunday, June 7, 2020 at 8:04AM
Indigenous history and culture has too often been poorly misrepresented on film or filtered through well-meaning but simplified stereotypes. As more and more Indigenous filmmakers emerge, all audiences enjoy the benefits of losing themselves in an abundance of stories drawn from lived experience. Here are nine standouts...
U.S.A.: SMOKE SIGNALS (Dir: Chris Eyre, 1998; pictured, above) A road-trip drama that connects the histories and destinies of Victor (Adam Beach) and Thomas (Evan Adams), who grew up together along the Spokane River on the Coeur d’Alene Indian Reservation. Victor must retrieve his father, but Thomas is the only one who can help him get there. Of Cheyenne/Arapaho heritage, Eyre crafted a film now considered a contemporary classic, beloved by Native American audiences for its non-stereotypical characterisations and understanding of modern reservation living. In 2018, the film was placed on the National Film Registry by the National Film Preservation Board.
BRAZIL: THE LEGEND OF UBIRAJARA (Dir: André Luiz Oliveira, 1975) Son of an Araguaia chief, Ubirajara (Tatau) spies Araci (Taíse Costa) on the shore. He pursues her, leading to a battle with Pojuca (Roberto Bonfim), the mightiest Tocantim warrior. But Ubirajara and Araci have fallen in love; when the truth is revealed, a war breaks out between the two villages. Spoken entirely in Karaja, this pre-Columbian adventure is considered to be one of the most naturalistic film portrayals of tribal life.
CANADA: ATANARJUAT THE FAST RUNNER (Dir: Zacharias Kunuk, 2001) Centuries ago, in the Canadian Arctic, Atuat (Sylvia Ivalu) is promised to the tribal leader’s son Oki (Peter-Henry Arnatsiaq), but instead falls in love with the good-natured Atanarjuat (Natar Ungalaaq). Oki learns of their love and sets about enacting a terrible revenge on Atanarjuat. The first Inuktitut-language feature film, it is the only Canadian film to win the Camera d'Or for best first feature film at the Cannes Film Festival. The now iconic ‘nude run’ over the sea of ice left Ungalaaq with deep cuts all over his bare feet.
ARGENTINA: LA NACIÓN OCULTA (Dir: Juan Carlos Martínez, 2011) Ñaalec (Fabián Valdez), a disenchanted Moqoit college student, seeks to deepen his connection to culture. He travels to the Nanaicalo Nqote ("Eye of the Dragon"), a sacred lake whose water gave people the power of the gods. This docudrama is part of a series of community-created films supported by Cinematography Education and Production Center (CEFREC) led by Iván Sanjinés, son of legendary Bolivian filmmaker Jorge Sanjinés.
NEW ZEALAND: MAURI (Dir: Merata Mita, 1988; pictured, right) Pioneering filmmaker Merata Mita became the first Māori woman to write and direct a dramatic feature with Mauri (translated as ‘life force’). Set around a love triangle in a small East Coast village, it explores cultural tensions, identity, and changing societal ways. Along with Ngāti (1987), Mauri was at the forefront of the emerging Māori screen industry. The crew numbered 33 Māori craftspeople (indigenous artist Ralph Hotere was production designer); the cast included the great Anzac Wallace (Utu, 1983; The Quiet Earth, 1985) and Māori activist Eva Rickard. A NZFC-financed restoration screened at the 2019 Venice Biennale.
COLOMBIA: EMBRACE OF THE SERPENT (Dir: Ciro Guerra, 2015) The story of the relationship between Karamakate (Nilbio Torres), an Amazonian shaman and lone survivor, and two scientists, who work together over the course of 40 years to search the Amazon for a sacred healing plant. The first Colombian film to earn a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar nomination and utilising four indigenous tongues (Cubeo, Wanano, Tikuna and Uitoto), the film derives its title from the great Amazon River, which carries the lead characters deep into the jungle. The regional government decorated the non-indigenous Guerra with the Order of the Inírida Flower for "exalting the respect and value of the indigenous populations”.
MACEDONIA: HONEYLAND (Dirs: Tamara Kotevska, Ljubomir Stefanov, 2019) The last female bee-hunter in Europe must save her bees and return the natural balance to her hives when a family of nomadic beekeepers threaten her livelihood. Nominated for two Academy Awards, the heartbreaking plight of traditional beekeeper Hatidze Muratova became a cause celebre on the 2019 arthouse circuit. The production shot for nearly three years and accumulated over 400 hours of footage. After the first wave of festival wins, the producers bought Hatidze a house with water and electricity close to the capital of Skopje; she still tends to her bees several days a week.
SAMOA: THE ORATOR (Dir: Tusi Tamasese, 2011). Samoan-born, NZ-trained director Tamasese made his debut with the island nation’s first feature film in the Samoan language with an indigenous cast. Set amidst lush tropical jungles and hand-toiled farmlands, it relates the outsider’s journey of Saili (Fa'afiaula Sanote), a little person and taro farmer, whose destiny is derailed when he is denied his father's chiefly status, threatening his family plantation. Tamasese takes care to respectfully depict Samoan family bonds (fa'aSamoa) and traditions such as evening prayer time (sa) and ritual atonement (ifoga) in a film that unfolds at a gentle pace but remains dramatically compelling.
AUSTRALIA: RADIANCE (Dir: Rachel Perkins, 1998) To mourn their mother’s passing, Aboriginal sisters Nona (Deborah Mailman) and Cressy (Rachael Maza) return to their childhood home where their third sister, Mae (Trisha Morton-Thomas), cared for the matriarch in her final years. With time to talk, drink and fight, the sister’s drag family secrets out that have festered for generations. A turning point in Australian storytelling, Perkin’s directorial debut tackled heritage, legacy and family in a contemporary setting. Fellow debutant Mailman earned the AFI Best Actress award.
