As "Missing From Fire Trail Road" (2024 release) opens, we are on the Tulalip Indian Reservation in Washington State, and several women are talking about someone who has gone missing. That turns out to be Mary Ellen Johnson Davis, a 39 yo Native American. She was married to a white man, who promptly moved to California when his wife went missing... At this point we are 10 minutes into the movie.
Couple of comments: this is the latest from French-American documentarian Sabrina Van Tassel ("The Silenced Walls"). Here she looks at the troubles for women living on Indian reservations. The stats don't lie: more Native America women go missing, or are murdered, or assaulted (or all of the above) on Indian reservations than any other segment of the female population in the US. The movie is at its core more oriented toward social justice for these women, than it is a true crime drama. Equally interesting is that this documentary provides a glimpse of what day-to-day life is like on Indian reservations. It will perhaps not surprise you that, as good as this documentary is (which it definitely is), it also makes for a rather depressing viewing experience.
"Missing From Fire Trail Road" premiered at last year's Tribeca film festival to positive acclaim. It is now streaming on Hulu, where I caught it just last night. If you want to better understand what life is like Native American women, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.
