Two versions of the road back home: native cinema in the USA and Canada

Abstract

http://dx.doi.org/10.5007/2175-8026.2008n54p145Native cinema is still a new on North-American screens and working to establish the sharp differences between Western America and the “Thirld World” reality on the reservations for Native Americans remain the poorest minorities in the US and in Canada. It is also new as the space whereaboriginal people shave control of their filmic representation, showing, for one, the diversity of tribal cultures preserved and thriving. The films analysed are Powwow Highway and Medicine River, both based on novels of the same title by David Seals and Thomas King, respectively. The theme is avery dear one to Native Literature: the trip back to one´s community and the figure of the trices as mediator or guide of this return.  Native cinema is still a new on North-American screens and working to establish the sharp differences between Western America and the “Thirld World” reality on the reservations for Native Americans remain the poorest minorities in the US and in Canada. It is also new as the space whereaboriginal people shave control of their filmic representation, showing, for one, the diversity of tribal cultures preserved and thriving. The films analysed are Powwow Highway and Medicine River, both based on novels of the same title by David Seals and Thomas King, respectively. The theme is avery dear one to Native Literature: the trip back to one´s community and the figure of the trices as mediator or guide of this return