A Thief of Time

I like Wes Studi & especially Adam Beach, but whoa is this movie a load of pretentiousness. Ponderously slow. Overly cryptic to the point of obfuscation, not because the plot warrants it but because there is almost no plot. Even less in the way of characterization. This is almost like one of those creaky old Charlie Chan mysteries (the cheaper Monogram studio versions) with lots of red herrings & oddball characters (like the old ex-senator with the checkered past who is now a recluse) & loads of people getting killed over objets d'art that you wouldn't look twice at in the mall. Great scenery, though. Pretty hair on the redhead, too, although I never did figure out what she was doing in this at all. Neither could my wife. Sheesh, at least the old B-movies had the decency to be short.

I can understand a lot of the bad reviews since they seemed a bit random in what they pulled from the book and what they left out. So if you have not read the book you see a lot of bits that do not seem to be needed / part of the plot. And some of the altered dialog will make you cringe. So will the pronunciations if you are used to Tony Hillerman reading his books. Then there is Emma who is not supposed to be in this story because she died before it starts and screws up the plots of future films. But if you have read the book you will probably enjoy seeing the book on the screen. Alex Rice is just as stunning as she was her Wonderfalls appearance. If Adam Beach and Wes Studi had the same sort of screen presence you probably would not notice the missing bits as much. Dawn Lewis, while gorgeous in this, seems as totally out of place as an anthropologist as Rebecca Holden did as a mechanic in Knight Rider. Both Rice and Lewis tend to dominate the scenes they are in which can kind of lead the viewer, that does not know the book, off track since a lot of their character's linkage to the plots were cut from the film.

There is NO Esperanto in this movie

I watched this movie specifically because IMDb lists Esperanto as one of the languages used. But IMDb is mistaken about the languages used in this film. There is absolutely no Esperanto at all. It's almost all English with a couple of words of Navajo. Do not watch this film if you're looking for Esperanto movies. Other options instead are "Idiot's Delight" (with Clark Gable) which has a bit of Esperanto, "Incubus" is all Esperanto (although completely mispronounced), and there are some Esperanto street signs in Charlie Chaplin's "The Great Dictator." There was supposed to be some spoken Esperanto in "Gattaca" as well, but I never heard any.

Aside from that, the other reviewer is right. This movie is a complete mess.

Spend your time elsewhere.

The story was kept intact and in iconological order. However, it suggests you read the book first or at the least are familiar with the characters first. There is only so much film time and this needed to be a mini-series. Each character's background and personality were alluded to. The visuals are par-exultant. You feel that you are in Four-corners territory.

They picked a perfect cast of actors. Most have played in other Hillerman book films, so you recognize the characters. I know you can look up the list but I still am amazed at how I immediately associate the characters with the characters. To name a few Wes Studi (Cherokee) as Joe Leaphorn, Sheila Tousey (Menominee and Stockbridge-Munsee Indian) as Emma Leaphorn, and Graham Greene (He is an Oneida Indian) as Slick Nakai.

This presentation follows the Hillerman formula for two intertwined mysteries that start for different purposes and sometimes end differently and not combined. On occasion, Hillerman's stories do not end. Jim Chee must track down a missing back-hoe that he let get pilfered from a secure compound. Joe Leaphorn must track down a suspected pot thief or a thief of time. One of their paths crossings is through a preacher appropriately named Slick. When the back-hoe user turns up dispatched and the pot thief is missing, they may find that the two stories are one.

We are quite lucky that the story did not get twisted by Robert Redford as he has his agenda and quite often bends stories for his purpose. In the movie "Skinwalkers" the Skinwalkers have been for all practical purposes removed. Robert Redford did the same thing in several other productions ruining the whole purpose of the story. Yet hear he seemed to take a more hands-off approach so it played well.

The DVD has a good voice-over commentary and the standard other extras.

This film for me and my wife is more entertaining than all the bloc-buster violent thriller/mystery/murder movies that abound. It is about real people making the best of their lives. They just happen to be Indian and the main characters are in law enforcement. The realistic acting and the great scenery more than make up for the slightly implausible plot. The sound track is by BC Smith, who also did the soundtrack for Coyote Waits, and is great. Adam Beach plays a tribal policeman who is a little bit accident prone and Wes Studi is the stoic consummately professional detective. There are many other fine either supporting or cameo roles by Graham Greene, Tantoo Cardinal, etc. We have also seen Coyote Waits, another adaptation of a Hillerman novel, and we greatly enjoyed it too.