Reel Injun

This is a beautifully made documentary! The music choices are fantastic and the storytelling is restrained- it's a show-not-tell kind of situation. From the key movie scenes featured here, you will learn the ways (positively and negatively) that the film medium has influenced perceptions of Indian culture and identity for non-native and native folks alike. There is an abundance of key native actors, artists and activists interviewed in director Neil Diamond's cross-country conversations. Each guest speaker helps unpack the portrayal of 'Injuns' in the films and how it corresponds with the ways native folks have been treated in the U.S (and beyond) over time. Overall, this feels like a look at how film has both abased and elevated natives at times, and how movies, especially contemporary ones, can function as a way to preserve and protect authentic native narratives. My only wish is that there were more native female voices in this movie, but the fact that there aren't seems more illustrative of a wider cultural problem in Hollywood than the filmmakers trying to silence women.

It's good.

I remember the scandal around Marlon Brando's "speech," and to see everything put in context is something all of us need to see. The Trail of Tears, Wounded Knee, and so many other stories of who all the peoples were and still are got buried under the stereotype of the savage that I remember from movies and tv in my youth. Thanks to the makers of this.

I absolutely love Native eye on Native history. Well made, interesting, easy to watch. As an Indigenous woman catching up on a lot of missed cultural upbringing now, I am grateful for the context given in the interviews and interested in their feedback on the flow of film history and its impact on public perception, as well as their own self-image. My only snag is... nearly every voice in the film was male. Women were mentioned in passing, by the men. One woman was interviewed. Otherwise, all story and authority is male. This does not discredit the information in the film, it just means we aren't seeing half the story. Half the experiences. Half the expertise. Let's keep trying for some intersectionality.

I laughed I cried. What more can you ask for? Super Entertaining!!!

This movie was thorough in its scope and subject matter. As a native person , I see how it just began to touch on how Hollywood was yet another form that attempted to contain the Native people. It answered so much while it also brought up many more questions for me to peruse. One in particular was one of its tragedies, Chief Buffalo CHild Long Lance. He was a product of his time and environment. Today he probably would have been seen merely as a Native man. At the time in which he lived , during the reign of the racial "One Drop" rule the small part of African blood that was a part of him negated any other part of him. He was of Cherokee descent , however it was unfortunate that he felt he had to spend his entire life trying to remove himself from another part of his ancestry.

That's about how long stupidity takes to annoy me. This certainly surprised, and exceeded all expectations. Bravo.

Very good documentary! I showed this documentary as part of my unit covering The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. My students really enjoyed all the movie clips and were surprised at some of the old racist clips that would never be okay today. My one complaint-this documentary contains nudity at the very end. It's not exactly brief, either. I didn't think it was really necessary to show a naked, running Native American over and over again. If you are watching this for a high school class, you might end the documentary a few minutes early.

Fabulous well worth buying....and it plays on region 2

Excellent

Of course, it's no scholarly article--BUT it's an extremmelywell-mae and informative documentary and a great entryway into Native American stereotypes and Hollywood--plus, the images are there (which aremissing in the scholarly articles). Buy and enjoy.

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.

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.