Movies and TV shows offering truer portraits of Indigenous people and culture
Early television shows and movies often portrayed nonwhite characters as cringeworthy, one-dimensional stereotypes. Too often, Indigenous people were depicted as savage antagonists of the European colonists. For Native American Heritage Month, we’re highlighting a few movies and TV shows with more realistic narratives of Indigenous people. The following list features some recommendations from the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area, the University of Colorado – Colorado Springs’ Division of Inclusive Culture and Belonging, and The Oklahoman newspaper, which serves a state with one of the nation’s highest percentages of Indigenous people.
Here are five selections to seek out on streaming services.
Dreamkeeper
2003
This unusual movie follows an Indigenous grandfather and grandson on a journey where the elder shares tribal legends along the way. It’s a coming-of-age story based on Indigenous culture.
Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner
2001
Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner tells a powerful story featuring themes of honor, betrayal, vengeance and redemption in a tribal community. The movie, set in the 11th century, was the first feature film written, directed and acted in Inuktitut, the language of Canada’s Inuit people. The accurate depiction of Indigenous life and family structure of the time is an integral part of the narrative.
Killers of the Flower Moon
2023
This film details the terror campaign against members of the Osage Tribe of Oklahoma in the 1920s. White people exploited Osage people to get rich after oil was found on tribal land. Racism and greed rapidly resulted in death and other horrors. The incidents helped to create the FBI and shifted power away from corrupt frontier law enforcement. The epic, which clocks in at three hours and 26 minutes, is regarded as a modern classic, directed by Martin Scorsese. It also sparked discussion about whether the story should be told by someone of Osage descent despite Scorsese’s efforts to focus on their culture.
Basketball or Nothing
2019
This series highlights life in a Navajo Nation high school in Arizona where hoops, as the title implies, is an all-important outlet. The sport helps to shield the students from an otherwise stark and traumatic world marked by alcoholism, drugs and suicides. Basketball or Nothing has a lot of heart in its story, despite the hard circumstances these kids and their families experience daily.
Reservation Dogs
2021-2023
Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi created the first TV series that was made completely by Indigenous writers and directors. Four Indigenous teens in Oklahoma hope to move to California after a close friend dies. Their grief is just a part of the unique challenges of being Indigenous in modern times. NCTA, The Internet & Television Association, praised Reservation Dogs for its authentic storytelling, adding, “Its legacy will serve as a reminder of the continual need for greater diversity and inclusion in the entertainment industry, offering hope for a future where Native voices are more widely heard and celebrated on screen.” The series garnered two Peabody Awards and two Independent Spirit Awards.
Image at top: Killers of the Flower Moon details the terror campaign against members of the Osage Tribe of Oklahoma in the 1920s. (Credit: SPLC)
