Ethnicity in Film Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Ethnicity in Film - Essay Example This film was significant on a number of levels. It was a major Hollywood release budgeted that brought in a box office of 23 million dollars and yet it managed to honestly depict the events of a highly politically charged event. It also examined the complexity seeking self identity in a group long persecuted in examining a character played by Val Kilmer who was at odds with his native heritage preferring to deny its existence and through the events of the story showed the self discovery of racial pride and identity of this character. This paper will explore the issues and themes raised by the film as they relate to the depiction of native culture. It will examine how the film showed the fight for ethnic identity in the face of outside pressures that are often hostile. This illustration of the complex nature of racial identity and political context are further heightened by the political context of the story. It will also highlight how the quest to depict native American ethnicity on film is still occasionally marred by stereotypes. The quest for identity for the protagonist is the main theme of the story. Val Kilmer's character Ray Levoi is of part Sioux descent and at the onset of the film he strongly denies his heritage. He does not talk about his heritage to his superior played by venerable actor and playwright Sam Shepard. He is shown to have become mainstream with his fashionable haircut and designer sunglasses and formal clothing. His initial contact with the people of the reservation his shown to be officious and unfamiliar. Grahame Greene's character,Walter Crow Horse who plays the town sheriff. does not like the intial presentation but something in him senses the inner conflict in the character. There is a marked tension in the character who is referred to as the Washington Redskin"" in hushed tones to refer to both his heritage and to his remarkable success in the bureau up to that point. With his succesful mainstream background Ray Levoi's character sees the events of the crime that he is sent to in vestigate through the official outlook of his boss. Slowly through the Graham Greene's character he awakens to his own heritage. After the intial presentation of the character there are series of events and individuals that slowly change his perspective on the purity of his own reasons for being there. The intitail reason for trip to the Reserve by the FBI is to capture Jimmy Looks Twice a chararcter who is believed to have murdered some FBI agents and is on the lam in the reservation. Apart from the steady tutelage of the town sherrif it is the idealisitc young teacher, Maggie Eagle Bear who appears to do the most to sway the protagonist's thinking. She is sincere and intelligent and she speaks to him of the real injustices that are going on in the reserve. The look at the poverty on the reserve is not spared in Apted's honest cinematography. She speaks to him at an educated level which he has come to respect from his own successes but unlike him she has not turned her back on her heritage. More than this, Ray's character sees her clear kindness and lack of rancor and it moves him. From this encounter on, Ra y starts to question his own motives for being on the reserve and