Reel Injun

April 16

1:30 Matinée
PG — 1hr 26min
2009 ‧ Documentary

Reel Injun is an enlightening documentary about the way Indigenous people have been depicted in film from the silent era to the present day. Director Neil Diamond takes the audience on a trip through time to explore the history of the “Hollywood Indian” and offers a refreshing, candid and personal analysis, tracing how these cinematic images have shaped and influenced the understanding of Indigenous culture and history.

Cree filmmaker Neil Diamond (not that Neil Diamond) hops in a rez car and drives from Northern Québec to Hollywood. His upbeat documentary explores the treatment of Indigenous people on film from the silent era to present times, with glimpses of how that portrayal has impacted life along the way. It’s an eye-opening ride. You can know about the atrocities of colonization and know about stereotypes in film and still reach a new level of “WTF white people” when watching an examination of the impact of classic movies on collective consciousness.

One of the central ideas in Diamond’s film is that people often believe what they see in the movies. Reality is not a patch on the big screen. Reel Injun demonstrates just how ubiquitous and common the misrepresentations of First Nations dress and clothing were in Hollywood films. The adoption of the “Indian” headbands, for example, came directly out the need for stuntmen to keep their wigs on while shooting Westerns. But in amongst this collection of white actors in red face, and Sicilians pretending to be native elders, something rather remarkable emerges, the means of resistance and telling your own stories endures. The representation of First Nations people didn’t really change until First Nations filmmakers made their own films, from their own perspective. In this, the power of image is more than a means to rectify history, it is about creating genuine identity.

If you liked Neil Diamond’s So Surreal: Behind the Masks, you will enjoy his earlier film that takes the audience on a trip through time to explore the history of the “Hollywood Indian” and offers a refreshing, candid and personal analysis, tracing how these cinematic images have shaped and influenced the understanding of Indigenous culture and history.