The Only Good Indian

Saw the screening of "The Only Good Indian" at the Sundance Film Festival in Salt Lake City last weekend. The movie stars Wes Studi as an assimilated bounty hunter who tracks down a runaway from the Haskell Indian school. The movie follows Wes and the boy as the travel thru the Kansas countryside on Wes' old time motorcycle, while other bounty hunters after runaways from the school are still on horseback. One of the more comical characters is the town sheriff, who is after both Wes and the boy, and suffers from PTSD from a lifetime of killing Indians. It is a refreshing look at the schools, that takes the traditional "cowboy and Indian" roles, turns them around, and add an interesting vampire story twist. In the end, Wes chucks his broken down motorcycle and vows to go back to his Indian way. I liked the film, although some of the scenes at the schools were too "Hollywood," and detracted from plot. Following the movie, Director Kevin Wilmott and Wes answer questions from the audience. Wes, who attended Chillocco Indian School in Oklahoma, says the belief still abounds that "it's great to be a white man." When asked about the value of a formal apology for what happened at the schools, Wes said an apology would have little meaning. Most of the actors and behind the scenes people were at the screening. After the movie, my friend Bonnie and I were starstruck and we hung around to meet some of the cast. We got to meet the runaway boy, his mom, and Heine Geigomah, well-known Native consultant. They were all very friendly. The boy is a champion dancer and had his hair cut especially for the movie.