It takes a certain degree of craftsmanship in the storytelling to get me rooting for the wife-cheating pedophile at the end of a movie.
It takes a great deal of suspension of disbelief for me to get past the continuity pain of the plot driving conveyance of a women on life support fighting for her life in the hospital who, visually, is obviously not on life support...and still keep me dialed in enough to see the film through to the end because I am vested in seeing how things end up. Director Korinna Sehringer's latest film manages to do both.
Shouting Secrets carries the ghost track of "John Wayne's Teeth" dancing beneath it's storyline, its winding plot takes us on a journey across the breath of reservation life that one doesn't often get access to.
The official word is that Wesley, a young, successful novelist, long ago left Arizona and the San Carlos Apache Reservation in his rear view mirror. He remains close to his mother but alienated the rest of the family with his autobiographical bestseller.
He has no intention of returning for his parents anniversary party but finds himself pulled back into the fold. Coming home only underlines what a mess Wesley's life has become, but he's not alone in that. Shouting Secrets tells a present day story about a Native-American family with unique struggles but universal truths.
Sehringer put on her casting director hat to collect a family of high profile Native American actors for her film: Lakota Chaske Spencer and Gil Birmingham have been swooning hearts around the world in Twilight; Quechua-Huachipaeri Q'orianka Kilcher starred as Pocahontas at the age of 14 (Great Land Alert: rumor has it that Q'orianka's mother is a Swiss national who grew up in Alaska); General Hospital heart throb Tyler Christopher makes a show; heart-stopplingly-beautiful Wind-in-his-Hair Rodney A. Grant and Black Shawl Tantoo Cardinal cross time from Dances with Wolves; joined by Tongva-Kumeyaay Tonantzin Carmelo whom we recall as Into the West's Thunder Heart Woman.
Shouting Secrets has been bringing home the hardware with seven wins and three nominations in the last year, including Best Film at the American Indian Film Festival, Best of the Fest at the Arizona International Film Festival, Golden Honu award at the Big Island Film Festival, the Audience Award at the Breckenridge Festival of Film and the Grand Prize at the Rhode Island International Film Festival.
I found this film authentic, meaningful, heartfelt and relatable.
