Ok, right off I'm a Whitey who doesn't have any friends from the Rez. However I have studied the plight of indigenous people, and this film seems to have the Real Goods.
1. You have a protagonist with feet in both camps, like many young indigenous people who have spent time in both worlds. She's a bit naive, but sees many opportunities before her if she plays by the dominant culture rules, including the attraction of an understanding Native American guy whose Casino-fueled rez is rich enough to fund his artistic ambitions.
2. But it means walking away from her broken family on a remote reserve, who need her, and they've just signaled they need her bad.
3. She reluctantly agrees to visit her family, and immediately becomes enmeshed in Rez politics, which are far from harmonious.
From my meagre understanding, most indigenous people face this dilemma, and there are no easy solutions, which this film
handles very well.
I wouldn't call this film a comedy, though I understand "gallows humour" is a way Rez dwellers use to cope. The dialogue seems believable, as does the ending (with nothing neatly wrapped up, but a choice made).
There are times when the director abandons straight narration and drifts off into mystical images that are not very clear, but evoke a mind not shackled by Western Civilization-style thought processes. I like them, because they jolt me into realizing a native-educated brain just doesn't think like mine; even when it talks like mine - it has other values and priorities. That's what I mean by the Real Goods.
