Windwalker

I picked up this movie at a tag sale since I am very interested in Native American type films. Obviously Dances with Wolves is now the standard by which all Native American subject films are measured....

WOW... what a nice surprise to find this film that I had never heard of. Although it is a 1980 film, and Hollywood tended to use white actors for Native roles, who cares. What a great story. It is very subtle in the way the story unfolds, and leaves you guessing about what is happening and what is going to happen. I thoroughly enjoyed this film. If you liked this movie, you will love Last of the Dogmen (1995) even more.

This exceptional movie is now in the long-awaited dvd format. It was a pity about the vhs original being poor quality--this "little gem" didn't deserve that sort of treatment--evidently the video was recorded on long-play to keep costs down and the clarity suffered. Now that this film is on dvd,it should be even popular than before.

If you have never seen this movie, you are truly missing a Gem of the Best Native American Films Ever. It is Authentic for all the actors, languages, costumes and the way of the Native American. It is the most enjoyable Family movie and everyone will learn something. It's poignant, touching, dramatic and humorous. It has all the ear marks of an award winner that you will want to see again and again. One you hate to see end and wish it had another sequel and a prequel. It is one of the most outstanding movies of it's time to shed some truth on the much ridiculed Native Americans. It shows how intuitive they are and with tons of ingenuity with a love and respect of this beautiful country we call America. I hope one day you all get to see it.

My father wrote the book Windwalker so I am privy to a few facts you might find interesting. First of all to all those who objected to Trevor Howard, the director of this film wanted to have all Native American actors and had arranged for Chief Dan George to play the title role, but he became really ill just before shooting. There wasn't any other actors available who were Native Americans, and they were lucky to get Trevor Howard, who in most opinions did an amazing job. Every part of this film was authenticated and was extremely well received by the Native American communities. It may seem slow but then you are missing the point. It was not billed as an adventure movie and I am afraid you are comparing it with those that are. This movie was quite simply the story of a family that finally brought some respect to Native Americans who for years had been portrayed as awful cookie cutter images that were neither flattering nor accurate. Another interesting fact is that the committee that nominates films for Academy Awards did want to nominate this film but they had a dilemma. The movie had to be in the category of foreign films as it had subtitles, but a movie that is in that category has to be nominated by the country it represents. This made it a catch 22 and at the time they could see no way to circumvent the rules and so the nomination fell through.

This movie is so incredible. I was instantly swept up by it. I was mesmorized, enchanted, bedazzled, bewitched. I love this movie so much and I haven't seen it for 10 years. I am almost afraid to watch again in case I can't feel the magic. Every once in a while you need to have something like this to hold on to. I was so manipulated by this film. Sometimes you prefer a movie that takes your imagination away from you and says, now look at the world like this. If you can get yours hand on it please do. If you loved "Black Robe" you will love this film.