Reel Injun Review

Reel Injun is the story about how Native Americans have been portrayed throughout film history. The story follows Cree filmmaker, Neil Diamond, as he travels across the U.S., visiting reservations, monuments, and notable spots in film. Along his travels, he interviews and profiles many iconic Native Americans and films. Some of these people include Iron Eyes Cody, the crying native American you see in the polluting awareness commercial, and Sacheen Littlefeather, who accepted the Oscar for Marlon Brando and became an icon for American activists. Other interviews include Adam Beech, Clint Eastwood, and Graham Greene. The movie also documents the different stereotypes or tropes of Native Americans in films including the Noble, stoic Indian, the “Savage”, and the groovy Indian. The film is mostly structured in this way, bouncing between these stereotypes and Diamond’s trip across the country, meeting with people on the reservations and elsewhere.

I first was introduced to this movie when it first came out in 2009 by my parents after there was a local screening in Wisconsin. I really think this screening put the Native American stereotype in perspective for me. At the time when I was 9, I was obsessed with the whole, “one with nature” and became interested with the “Native Style” of living. After watching this documentary, it really changed my perception of how Natives are viewed and opened my eyes to real, continuous issues they have been having for centuries now.

I really likes some of the shots they used in the film that showed Neil Diamond traveling cross country. Some of these were really wide panning shots of open plains and mountain ranges while some were really close and personal when people on the reservations were talking about their stories. I also really like the music that they had used which included many Native American musicians or classic rock songs about them. The one thing I didn’t really like was how they framed and shot some of the interviews. Some of the interviews, like Clint Eastwood’s, were extremely up close when it was unneeded and felt constricted. The lighting wasn’t particularly great as well as some of the interviews felt underexposed and dark. I also didn’t love some of the pacing of the film. They would be talking about one subject and it’s story then immediately cut to the understory about Neil Diamond traveling across the country. It just felt awkward at sometimes, but didn’t overall affect the content that was being shown.

I would definitely recommend this film to someone. I think it really redefined how Native Americans are viewed not only in cinema but in real life. It was an eye opening experience to see Sacheen Littlefeather explain her actions at the Oscars then switch to  see how it then impacted those fighting at Wounded Knee in the 70’s. It was compelling and almost disheartening to see how the stereotype of the Native American population in film not only shaped how we view them outside of the cinema, but how they even viewed themselves. I think this film will also shed light on a side of American cinema and culture often glazed over and forgotten amongst other great films.