BSL-English supported event
An exciting, dramatised reconstruction of the authentic ways of life of the Ojibway indigenous tribe.
This extraordinary film features a brief but compelling sound prologue by one of the stars, Chief Chauncey Yellow Robe, a Sioux elder, who tells us that this is the story of his people, declaring: “When you look at this picture, look not upon us as actors. We are Indians living once more our old life.”
Filmed in the Canadian Northwest, and featuring an all-Native American cast, the film follows the tribe as they struggle to survive in the face of ‘the silent enemy’: Hunger! The famine and harsh winter conditions are the backdrop for a sensational drama which sees Dagwan, the devious medicine-man, use every trick in the book to secure his betrothal to Neewa, the Chief’s daughter – scheming to come between her and the noble hunter Baluk.
The critics declared the film a masterpiece on its original release and today, according to Oscar-winning film historian Kevin Brownlow, it remains "a priceless treasure… The caribou scene is a sequence of such dimensions… that it stuns the audience with the force of a snowstorm.”
Dir. H.P. Carver | 1930 | US | N/C PG | 1h 22m + short
With: Chief Yellow Robe, Molly Spotted Elk, Chief Buffalo Child Long Lance, Chief Akawanush, Cheeka
Performing live: Günter Buchwald (violin, piano) and Frank Bockius (percussion)
Screening material courtesy of Flicker Alley
*Content warning: this film contains several scenes of animal cruelty and animal abuse*
