Thunderheart (1992)

I surprisingly thought the film Thunderheart was exceptional. Even though it did have a few slow points, the action throughout was exciting. What I found most interesting in the film is that the Native Americans were shown not in the normal stereotyped roles. Rarely did we see a Native American in full headdress and loincloth, the only time we say this was during special ceremonies. Most of the time the Native Americans were dressed in normal clothes, just like the white men. The Native Americans were also never shown as very tempered. A stereotype that Native Americans have from films is being very hotheaded and angry people. In Thunderheart, the Native Americans were calm and very spiritual people. The film would have been without action if it weren’t for the white man. The white characters were all quick to draw their guns and randomly shoot without looking. This seemed a little absurd at some points, all the shots flying with no one looking or really aiming. While some stereotypes were broken in the film I still think some remained a little. Graham Greene’s character always knew more about the crime scene than Val Kilmer’s character. Greene would walk up to the location touch the ground and be able to tell who has been there and how long ago they had left. He looked at a show print and figured body type, weight, and injuries. I don’t quite know if this is

I did some readings on the subject of Native American representation in film. The thing i found most interesting is a part where the reading talks about the new style of Native American films as being nostalgic Hollywood blockbusters. Were as the film changes the typical view of a Hollywood Western while still having a white lead character come in and investigate a social problem. I read this after viewing the film and it changed my reaction a little. As I was proud to see stereotypes being broken throughout the film, I did not see it plain as day that the white man had to come in and fix all the problems. Maybe on a better note, he needed to come in to open the eyes for the rest of the white population.

The part of the movie I do not understand and I think needs more discussion is the part of the Goons. I understand that the head guy wants to take the land away from the Native Americans. At first I thought they held some sort of police role. But this still did not make sense to me because I felt like there were too many different sections of police activity. The reservation had their own police force and the FBI was there too. The only thing I can take from it was that the Goons were the local police force that patrolled the border because they had no sanction on the reservation. Their exact role in the story did not come out in the film. They were the bad guys but that is all, their characters were not developed