Skinwalkers
- Film per la TV
- 2002
- 1h 40min
Aggiungi una trama nella tua linguaThe story revolves around the legend of the skin walkers or "S Dubs", a folk legend from Utah about the spirits of murdered Indians returning to seek revenge upon those who disrespect the la... Leggi tuttoThe story revolves around the legend of the skin walkers or "S Dubs", a folk legend from Utah about the spirits of murdered Indians returning to seek revenge upon those who disrespect the land.The story revolves around the legend of the skin walkers or "S Dubs", a folk legend from Utah about the spirits of murdered Indians returning to seek revenge upon those who disrespect the land.
- Regia
- Sceneggiatura
- Star
- Premi
- 6 vittorie e 4 candidature totali
- German wife
- (as Marla Finn)
Recensioni in evidenza
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.
This was a good mystery film too, revealing little by little as to the motive for the murders.
Chris Eyre did a good job in this film, having seen his other movie Smoke Signals, he gives a somber atmosphere to both of these films. Not invoking the usual depressing ambience usually portrayed on these kind of environment, but not over-glorifying any aspects either.
All in all, a worthy film to watch.
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.
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.
Lo sapevi?
- QuizMost of this movie was made in and around Superior Arizona. Some scenes are from Globe Arizona. The steep cliffs shown in numerous scenes is called Apache Leap. Ironic being this movie and series was based on the Navajo Indians. The Movie U Turn was also famously filmed here as well.
- BlooperThe knife found in Chee's tire is held in place by grey putty, clearly seen and covering the tire tread.
- Citazioni
Jim Chee: I don't see how I can do this.
Wilson Sam: Do what?
Jim Chee: This case. It's too much.
Wilson Sam: Wrong, Jim. Cop, medicine man, garbage man... No matter who you are, the dark wind blows on everyone, Jim. You just have to push yourself through it.
- ConnessioniFeatured in Leggende Navajo (2003)
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