The Kayenta Today newspaper reviews the PBS series
We Shall Remain in advance of its debut next week.
We Shall RemainBy Malcom BenallyThe director Chris Eyre, in all three of the films allows historians, descendants, writers, maps, and archival material to tell the American Experience in “We Shall Remain.” Despite all the talk about wars, genocides, and mayhem, I did not see a single person fall off a horse. But, a lot of information comes across about the way life was for America Indians in the colonial days. With all the fancy visuals aside, the first three films in this PBS series would make a great National Public Radio series. In fact, I couldn’t buy Tecumseh talking very fancy English in his final stand, but I probably wouldn’t have noticed it if I was listening to it on NPR.
It is the last two documentaries that will definitely generate dialogue. Here in the West, we like our films with a tinge of entertainment and intrigue, and the last two documentaries “Geronimo” and “Wounded Knee” fulfills that need, even for a PBS series.Comment: I don't have a problem imagining Tecumseh speaking "fancy English." Many Indians came from storytelling cultures and were great orators. I presume Tecumseh spoke persuasively since he persuaded so many Indians to join his confederation.
If the last two episodes without dramatizations are more interesting than the first three, I'll be surprised. Documentaries are almost always better with recreations and dramatizations than with talking heads and static images only.
For more on the subject, see
The Best Indian Movies.
1 comment:
I've just finished re-reading Frederick Douglass' autobiography. I wonder if this person "couldn't buy it" if excerpts from it were used in a dramatization.
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