L'indien

At one time Many beautiful Native American children were adopted by Caucasian parents, and that is represented here in this wonderful story, Sioux City of a Beverly Hills Jewish family adopting a 4 year old Native American boy. A beautifully tragic story of love and loss in the backdrop of Conflicting cultures, racism, and spiritual awakening.

Hard for me to suspend enough disbelief to watch this movie. Having grown up in Sioux City, I am aware that there are no Lakota Sioux reservations near there. Closest one is a Winnebago reservation in Nebraska. Lakota Sioux are further west in north central Nebraska and central South Dakota and have several reservations there. Dakota Sioux are more predominant in Sioux City. I also feel that the premise of the movie is somewhat demeaning to the people of the region. Additionally, I remember there being a strong push for the tribes to keep their children within the tribe and to try to raise them with the tribal heritage. A couple from Beverly Hills seems pretty far-fetched to the reality of this adoption scenario.

I really liked this movie but I like Indian stories. This was a good yesteryear of a civilized Indian going back to his roots to solve the mystery of his birth mothers past. The full story comes out at the end. I've seen Lou play some good roles.

I am an Ojibwe American Indian. Once again I endured yet another Hollywood film that hopes to be a story about American Indians. And fails. As have so many. Phillips is a tiny part Cherokee. All his acting adult life he has used that tiny edge to star in some of the most awful films and TV series where he plays some ango writer'0s version of an American Indian. And fails. This one he actually produced. Some reviewers gave it a high rating. It is clear that when people know nothing at all about American Indians they can make up a story and pretend, with their good intentions, that they have done something. And failed yet again. Everything here is wpng. The story is trite and shallow. The great exploration of tribal beliefs is laughable. The painted chicken feathers pretending to be Eagle Feathers are everywhere. It is just sad how incorrect every detail truly is, even though Phillips was certain he was making something great. It is boring beyond endurance. The writing is childish. Most of the actors are stumbling, unprepared, and just foolish. Fail on all counts. But at least he had such good intentions.

Review of Sioux City, aka Ultimate Revenge

Lou Diamond Phillips is Jesse Rainfeather Goldman in this tale of a Sioux indian boy given up for adoption to become a casualty department doctor fostered by two Jewish parents in LA.

When he receives a letter and amulet from his birth mother on his birthday, he is bound to go and look her up in Nebraska, only to find she died under suspicious circumstances. He gets re-acquainted with his relatives, such as his medicine man grandfather and also with a girl working at the local store (Salli Richardson - allow me to pick up my tongue from my shoes, please... wow). All he can remember of his mother are flashes of memory, her giving him up, and her being knocked about by some faceless man.

After pressing his luck by trying to impress on the local chief of police that his mother's death wasn't an accident and picking up the chief's daughter (Lise Cutter), he gets followed around and is almost beaten to death by the local police hoodlums.

This is an interesting movie, even though it has all the production values of a movie of the week, made for tv, Canadian effort.

It's main thread is about an unsolved murder, but it is really about the multiplous ethnic/racial/national/religious/professional identities many of us juggle with in this modern world. Considering his biography, this might well be a crypto- biographical effort on the part of Lou Diamond Phillips, and why he might have taken on the project and directed it.

All in all, not a great movie, but not a really bad one either, and interesting for it's existential ideas and viewpoints, rather than it's thematic originality.