Incident at Oglala

Easily one of the finest American documentaries ever, INCIDENT AT OGLALA is also something of a companion to Peter Matthiessen's exhaustive and controversial book 'In The Spirit Of Crazy Horse.' Complementing each other perfectly, they both relate the details surrounding the trial and imprisonment of Leonard Peltier.

Beginning with depictions of the appalling social conditions on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, the film builds through depictions of the stand-offs and confrontations on the res between AIM members (American Indian Movement) and authorities both local and federal. If nothing else, INCIDENT AT OGLALA underscores the harsh truism that there's plenty of nasty injustice to be found in the US, and that fairness can be an elusive and nebulous concept with distressing regularity.

See this film (and also director Michael Apted's excellent follow-up, MOVING THE MOUNTAIN).