Skinwalkers

I just caught this on PBS for the first time and immediately noticed all the errors and shortcomings I had planned to document before seeing they had been mentioned by viewers already. Morris Bitsie in particular has commented accurately, as have all the people who vastly preferred the book(s).

It just begs the question to have the benefit of Tony Hillerman's own acknowledgement in the afterword that the process of making a movie is very different from that of writing a novel. But to see the movie set on the low desert instead of the high plateau of the Navajo nation is almost as sacrilegious as giving short shrift to the actual language, religion, and culture of the Dine themselves.

As a former student at Northern Arizona University with many friends on the nation, I was dismayed to see Hillerman's sensitive and intricate plot and characters chopped up, re-sorted, and spat out as yet another Hollywood style detective yarn. Only the mere fact that all the main characters were at least Native Americans saved it, though the usual all-Indians-look-alike-so-why-bother-to-get-real-Navajos aspect is so obvious as to be ludicrous.

Because I want to see better versions of Hillerman in the future, and I think Adam Beach has an appealing start toward a real Jim Chee, I rated this about four points too high at a 7 of 10. Next time I want to see real Navajos, however.

I recently watched "Skinwalkers" again and enjoyed it more than I did the first time around. As I wrote in my Coyote Waits review, etc., I dislike that moviemakers think Native tribes are interchangeable. I am not only talking about the mispronouncing of words or the expression of cultural ideas, but something more apparent at first glance... somatotypes. Major tribes have different body types, facial structure, ways of speaking, dressing, walking, and even hair styles. They can be as different from each other as they are to non indigenous races. For example: Comanche tend to be tall, muscular and golden skinned. Navajo necks tend to look shorter with the head seemingly very close to the shoulders, in both genders. Sioux have killer cheekbones, while Apache faces are broader, and their legs are shorter; Mohawk noses tend to be "hawkish" and they "look indian" even if the person is a mixed blood with blonde hair and blue eyes! I could go on and on, but you get the point. I also find it amusing that Adam Beach's character pointed out Apache somatotypes in "Smoke Signals", so the actor cannot possibly be unaware. You will see more Navajo in Skinwalkers than I recall seeing in Coyote Waits, and I bet you will soon start recognizing who in the film is a real Navajo and who is not... giving you an appreciation of what some of us keep complaining about.

I thought Adam Beach was better in this film and I thought the plot was better. They still didn't film in the right locations as the Navajo are Mesa people, but the scenery is beautiful just the same.

Michael Greyeyes can do an insane smile better than anyone since Martin Landau. Even if you haven't seen the other films in the series, you can enjoy this film as it doesn't pull in important references from the others. It has problems, sure, but I enjoyed the ride.

I'm a fan of Hillerman's mysteries, and had high hopes for Redford's film adaptations. I came away from Skinwalkers a bit disappointed. I should preface my comments by saying that I've read about two-thirds of the Navajo mysteries, and Skinwalkers is my least favorite, so in some sense my disappointment started with the choice of book to adapt. However, my main quibbles with the movie are independent of this issue.

The foremost problem is what I see as unfaithful characterizations of Leaphorn and Chee. In the books, Leaphorn's defining attribute is his preternatural intuition, which he backs up with methodical procedure--sort of an aging Navajo Adam Dalgleish. Chee's essence is that he's a good cop who has to overcome frequent waves of self-doubt. Both are men of few words, Leaphorn because his mind is always whirring, Chee because he's moody by nature. Perhaps most distinctly, the relationship between the two is extremely unequal: Chee is in awe of Leaphorn's reputation, and as such is perpetually worried about making a wrong move within Leaphorn's view. However, what the Skinwalker movie does is take a single dimension of the characters--the fact that Chee is an active participant in Navajo spirituality and Leaphorn is not--and make that their defining contrast. This distorts Leaphorn in particular almost beyond recognition: rather than the icy logician of the books, whose attitude toward Navajo spiritual tradition is at worst pragmatic, the movie renders him as sort of a reservation Dirty Harry (with a smaller gun), informed primarily by cynicism about human motives. Given this, there's nothing for Chee to be in awe of, and their collaboration is presented as an equal division of labor, with Chee providing the "Navajo insider" angle and Leaphorn the "hardheaded cop" grounding.

Beyond this, the plot of the movie diverged considerably from that of the book, for the worse in my opinion. Disparaging a movie for not being true to a book I didn't like all that much might sound like complaining about the small portions at a lousy restaurant, but the book did have some good moments, most of which got altered or left out. In particular, the book has an especially tense episode near the end when one of the principles is in grave danger, a scene that could have been adapted to great effect. Instead, the movie's denouement feels forced, as is not that exciting.

For fans of Hillerman's books, I strongly recommend seeing the film of The Dark Wind, which I think captures the feel of the books much better than does Skinwalkers. I have a harder time recommending The Dark Wind to those unfamiliar with the books, as it has a slow pace and will probably be hard to follow. I also liked the adapatation of Coyote Waits quite a bit, less than The Dark Wind, but much more than Skinwalkers.

Movies in sub-cultural settings become exceptional when you quickly forget that it is, in fact, a sub-culture. Within minutes of the opening scenes of "Skinwalkers", I no longer dwelt upon the thought that a murder movie on an Indian Reservation is an unusual setting and, instead, focused on the murder mystery itself. In this sense, it reminds me of "Barbershop" (http://us.imdb.com/Title?0303714) in its ability to portray a particular sub-culture in America without actually dwelling on the differences between that sub-culture and America as a whole.

In other words, these movies become successful when you are drawn into the story so deeply that you realise that the sub-culture is as much a world in its own right as the so-called "majority" of America.

I would love to see this film turned into a weekly series. There's certainly enough potential depth of storylines to allow that.

I noticed that "Skinwalkers" was filmed in the Phoenix area, but Mr. Redford knew that he'd not be filming taboo places around Phoenix as was a problem with "Dark Wind".

Navajo and those associated closely with the language will note that the actors are not flawless by any stretch, but at least they tried. Adam Beach is interested in the language and the people. I give credit for trying... twice! ("Windtalkers")

Tony Hillerman's books are always going to be better than his movies. I think the reason that they made Leaphorn so ignorant of his people's ways is so that bilighana (Anglo) (and you have to admit that most people watching any movie are not going to be Navajo) can understand why Chee does some of the things he does. Makes sense to Navajo and friends, but most others would just turn it off thinking it "weird" without the movie explaining thoughts and motives.

I hope this is enough of a success that they will try ALL of Mr. Hillerman's books which honor the beauty of a gentle people and their beautiful home. I would like to see them try Navajo actors, but Adam Beach is giving an admirable performance, especially in capturing the wonderful quiet ways of the Navajo.