 |
|
|
|
HOMELAND is the rich and engaging story of four Lakota Indian families from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. This emotionally compelling film weaves a portrait of a spiritual leader, a grandmother, a community activist and an artist over the course of three years. HOMELAND follows these families as they face the harsh realities common to most American Indian reservations - alcoholism, unemployment and scarce housing. With their family loyalty, spiritual devotion and keen sense of humor, they work to build a better life for their children and future generations.
Michael and Rita Little Boy
Marian White Mouse
Doris Eagle
Thurman Horse
| |
In the interviews and footage of HOMELAND's four families, there is a palpable yearning for self-reliance and personal freedom - freedom from tribal corruption, freedom from governmental binds. They are searching for space that is theirs alone, where they won't feel watched or constricted. For some families this freedom is a return to family land outside of town, far from government-built housing projects. For others, freedom means looking off the reservation for educational and employment opportunities.
HOMELAND overturns destructive stereotypes and reveals the complexities of contemporary Native American life as few documentaries have done before. Other films and television programs recount the history and tradition of Native American cultures, but few have depicted the actual economic and social struggles that tribes are facing today. On the Pine Ridge Reservation homelessness is at 30 percent and unemployment at 80 percent. Sixty percent of its residents live in substandard housing, and the reservation, which is half the size of the state of Connecticut, doesn't have a single bank.
Filmmakers Jilann Spitzmiller and Hank Rogerson say, "We wanted to encourage viewers to look at current realities of reservation life, which are virtually unknown and often very disturbing - severe poverty, homelessness, poor health, alcoholism. But within the harsh conditions of reservation life, you will always find an inspiring and incredible group of people striving to create a better future for their children."
HOMELAND captures the grace and spirit of the Lakota tribe. From the lyrical beauty of free-running horses to the wonderment in children's faces upon seeing a sacred white buffalo calf, hope and inspiration are interwoven between poverty and despair.
In the film we meet Michael Little Boy, a spiritual leader who helps lift his community with Lakota prayer. Living with his wife and seven children in a falling-apart shack, Michael - spurred on by a dream - looks to sources outside the expected. As a result, the Little Boys became the first family to receive a relocated military home. Marian White Mouse believes that freedom is living in harmony with the earth, on land of one's own. Due to archaic laws, those on the reservation are unable to own their land outright. Yearning for her children to run free in the fields, she and her husband hope to build a house in the country. Thurman Horse, young artist and father of four, struggles to raise his children in ghetto-styled cluster housing. He moves off the reservation to establish himself and find a better education for his kids. Doris Eagle, a 63-year-old grandmother, has taken in seven children because their parents are suffering from alcoholism. She tries to teach the children traditional ways and fills her home with humor and love. In HOMELAND we hear voices from the reservation - native voices, seldom heard, that speak to commonalties and differences, and bridge the gap between American Indians and the rest of the world.
|
|
|
