ABSTRACT: While this is a "fictional" movie it's based on the events that occurred during the 1970s between the FBI and A.I.M.
CONTENT: (Previously published ©Nov 2, 2008 at Ciao under my pen-name pyewacket)
The opening of the 1992 movie Thunderheart shows in silhouette during an approaching sunset, a Native American running, running, running. Suddenly gunshots are heard and the Native American falls to his death and lands face down in a river.
The movie next takes us to Washington D.C. to the office of Jack Milton of the FBI who is assigning Ray Levoi an FBI agent to do investigations of the numerous murders that are occurring near The Badlands and on a Native American reservation in South Dakota. Milton specifically wants Levoi to investigate who is behind these murders since among being of other ethnic backgrounds, Levoi is part Sioux Indian himself. During the interview between Milton and himself, Levoi is trying to deny his Native American background, just as he has done all his life as he has always been ashamed of his full blood Native American father who was an alcoholic. Nonetheless, Levoi goes to the reservation and hooks up with other members of the FBI team there that includes their leader, Frank Coutelle
While he and Frank start making a search in the desolate area of The Badlands, he comes across a Native American man who is bending over the dead body of another Native American man. Thinking that this man has just killed the other the two apprehend the man, with Levoi throwing the man onto the ground,while Frank does a search for ID. It turns out the man is Walter Crow Horse, a member of the Tribal police and is also trying to find the answers to this recent homicide.
Levoi and Crow Horse are to meet many times afterward and while Levoi does try to work according to the FBI rules and regulations and with Frank Coutelle, he seems to be more interested in getting the Native American viewpoint of what is going on and why the strange homicides. Crow Horse even introduces Levoi to an elderly shaman, named Grandpa Sam Reaches, who has the gift of vision, especially into the heart of Levoi who has denied his Native heritage for so long. It's not long when Levoi is often confused for after awhile maybe due to his being in connection with his own heritage, he starts seeing visions himself.
It turns out there is a specific reason for the strange sudden killings for there is a secret that is being covered up, and anyone who finds out about it is killed off. You'll just have to watch the movie to find out what the secret is, and who is to blame for the killings.
Opinions/Comments
While most movies centering about Native Americans in general are usually about distant past events in America's history, Thunderheart was the first movie to show Native American life in more contemporary time and setting, as it does take place during the turbulent 1970s with the rise of the rather radical American Indian Movement (A.I.M.)
During these times, real actual treacheries did occur, and yes while some actions of the American Indian Movement were extreme, many of its members had to more or less go underground, for the FBI and the government in general viewed A.I.M. members as ironically being "non-American" in their activities. The truth was that what the organization was attempting to do was to bring full Native American rights recognized.
The director, Michael Apted no doubt was very sympathetic to the injustices that occurred to Native Americans during that time period, for not long before Thunderheart came out, he had also done a documentary entitled Incident At Oglala, which emphasizes the unjust and unfair treatment of Leonard Peltier who supposedly was responsible for the deaths of two FBI agents. Many feel that Peltier was a scapegoat and a FBI cover up of their own abuse of power. To this day some thirty years later , Peltier remains a political prisoner in jail and has never been given a pardon by any President even though the evidence is overwhelming that he had nothing to do with the deaths.
This movie wonderfully sets the mood of those times, and yes, is downright frustrating and grim. A light-hearted movie this isn't, but gives a fantastic insight of why many Native Americans did become radicals as all they were trying to do was seek true justice and uncover truths. Some members of A.I.M. are actually cast as extras in this movie, such as one of the co-founders of the organization, Dennis Banks.
What really surprises me however, was how such a movie like Thunderheart was allowed to be made in the first place and wasn't censored by the government, for it sure shows the workings and operations of the FBI in a very negative stance.
Cast
Ray Levoi......................Val Kilmer
Jack Milton....................Fred Ward
Frank Coutelle..............Sam Shepard
Walter Crow Horse.......Graham Greene
Maggie Eagle Bear......Shelia Tousey
Grandpa Sam Reaches....Ted Thin Elk
Jimmy Looks Twice......John Trudell
Dennis Banks................himself
Directed by Michael Apted
Written by John Fusco
Music by John Horner
Running Time: 119 minutes
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