Kidskycom It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

Huievest Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

Tobias Burrows It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Divanny Perez Growing up in Waskaganish, Cree filmmaker Neil Diamond remembers playing cowboys and Indians, but having to choose a side meant all the children preferred the role of cowboys. Myths and assumptions concerning Native Americans have been around for ages; however, the documentary Reel Injun addresses these falsified beliefs. The film runs 86 minutes long as Neil Diamond visits and interviews Native people and critics. Traveling in a "rez car," also known as a reservation car, he brings our attention to the effects of Hollywood film making on a grand scale. Gullible movie audiences believed in the representations of Native Americans in numerous films. Prior to watching Reel Injun I can admit to not knowing much about America's first peoples. During the late 1800s, society was fascinated with Native Americans, making them part of the first themes to be captured on film. As a result, the illusion of Indians began impacting the world. Myths caused native people to be seen as characters instead of being treated as human beings. Not only is this treatment unjust, but it is the catalyst leading people to believe all Native American mimic mythical creatures, because of their assumed bravery and outstanding horsemanship. The myth associating Indians and horses might have arisen from the Crow people in Montana, who are esteemed riders throughout North America. The relationship between the Crow tribe and their horses is very spiritual. Rod Rondeaux in particular, became a stuntman because he was dissatisfied with seeing white men pretending to be Indians on horses. Rondeaux has starred in the TV film Crazy Horse, Wild, Wild West, and many others. He has become one of Hollywood's highly ranked stuntmen and is representative of Native Americans who have been able to make stereotypes disappear. The 1930's film The Silent Enemy featured real native actors, allowing Chief Buffalo Child Long Lance to become a preeminent warrior. This period was marked by segregation and Long Lance knew the only way to further his career was by disguising his multiracial background: Indian, African American, and European. Because of his ethnicity, Long Lance developed a new image for himself, one that was solely Indian. When his secret came out, his career was ruined because of his falsified allegation of belonging to a tribe. On March 20, 1932 Long Lance committed suicide after battling alcoholism for years. This is reflective of a time where prejudiced attitudes affected job opportunities. Long Lance was born after the Reconstruction Era had ended and when the lynching epidemic occurred. Similar to Long Lance and known by his stage name "John Wayne," Marion Mitchell Morrison illustrated the image of the cowboy during his era. Most of Morrison's movie roles were Westerns, making it easy to associate the persona of John Wayne with mistreatment of the Indians. Louise Erdrich's poem "Dear John Wayne" expresses the effects of racial biases that were widely accepted in American society. The lines "How can we help but keep hearing his voice, / the flip side of the sound track, still playing; Come on boys we got them / where we want them, drunk, running" shows how degrading characters like John Wayne were to Native Americans. John Wayne was shown as the fearless cowboy who conquered the natives. Throughout American history, people have associated headbands and feathers with Native people, when in fact they never wore them. Hollywood began using headbands on actors to ensure wigs would not fall off during stunts. This has become one of the many symbols attached to Native Americans through the influence of Hollywood. With an evolving society, it is difficult to define the ethnic identities of a group. The disadvantage with cinema is that directors can choose how they want to represent individuals or groups of people. These messages can translate incorrectly, allowing for the continuation of prejudices.Despite being presented as savages and mistaken for hippies, Native Americans have come a long way in Hollywood. The movement that began in November 1969, when indigenous protesters from San Francisco occupied Alcatraz Island, revitalized the spirit of Natives, and filmmakers finally owned up to their mistakes. The 90's can be considered the rebirth of Natives in cinema because their voice emerged. Movies like Smoke Signals and Igloolik accurately tell Native American stories.Reel Injun provides viewers with a truthful portrayal of the many years of damage caused by film making and will make you question Western favorites held so close to heart. Interviews with natives and a look into various movies throughout history will make you thankful a documentary like this exists. Aiming to rid society of wrongheaded myths, director Neil Diamond thoughtfully delivers just the right amount of critique, leaving audiences with awareness of Native American life.

poe426 REEL INJUN does Injustice justice: we see early examples of White Men in Blackface, in Black and White- and then White Men in Redface, in Color(ed?)... I always get a big kick out of seeing actors who clearly AREN'T "American Indians" (which is an oxymoron) pompously spouting ridiculous dialogue. The translations shown in REEL INJUN are hilarious. I never knew that "Iron Eyes" Cody was Sicilian; a bit of a revelation, that. That he took the Part to Heart was touching: you can be who- or what- you WANT to be in this life. The juxtaposition of Reel Injuns with Real World Injuns brought the mixed message(s) home quite clearly (one can't look at the horrific photos of the original Massacre at Wounded Knee and NOT understand the dichotomous yawning chasm between Reality and Reel "reality"). My favorite line in the movie was delivered by the young comic: A group of White Men ride up to an "American Indian" and say, "Where road go?" The "Amerind" replies: "Road STAY. YOU go." I heard somewhere that The Emancipation proclamation, which freed slaves of African descent, didn't apply to Native Americans: it was still legal to own Indian slaves...

gavin6942 The history of the depiction of Native Americans in Hollywood films...What we have is a film that features "white guys" playing Native Americans and the secret identity of Iron Eyes Cody. And for the ladies, we have Native women summed up as Pocahontas. And, of course, all Natives were from the Plains in the movies with feathers and tepees.What I found disappointing about this film was its lack of references to other films. They did a good job of looking at how Natives really live and there is some humor (the translations) and historical notes of importance (the Marlon Brando incident)... but the clips of films are not a big part of this, and therefore we never fully look at the subject -- Natives in film.

BigLaxFan94 I found this one to be very informative about the all the negative stereotypes that Native people all over Turtle Island used to face a lot through images seen about them on TV and the big screen!! Fortunately, it isn't as bad as it used to be in my opinion since Natives are being viewed as a lot more human. However the damage had already been done ever since motion pictures were invented during the turn of the century and many STILL see Native folks as "savages" who are "noble", "stoic", etc. It's pathetic that EVEN TODAY mainstream society still sees them in such a negative manner! I am personally appalled by the old Hollywood views of Native people and I wish they would just vanish into thin air! But.. ANYWAYS... that's my scoop on this program and why I voted 9 out of 10.