THUNDERHEART

US, 1992, 113 minutes, Colour.
Val Kilmer, Graham Greene, Sam Shepard, Fred Ward.
Directed by Michael Apted.

Thunderheart is a murder mystery in the steps of Dances With Wolves. It also features one of Dances With Wolves' stars, Graham Green, who is excellent in the role of a tough but sympathetic Indian police officer. But this is a modern story, based on the events of the '70s, of native American struggles. It is also a murder mystery and investigation.

The mystery works well: a killing that looks like vengeance but turns into racist conspiracy and land exploitation issues. The FBI investigates. Val Kilmer is a short back and-sides crack officer (with Indian ancestry which he disdains) and Sam Shepard is a wily veteran. Fred Ward is the chief of a type of vigilante squad on the Indian reservation.

Key to the response to the film is in following Kilmer in his troubled journey into his roots, dreams and the mystical relationship of Indians to the land and to one another.

Directed by Michael Apted (the 7-Up series, Gorillas in the Mist, Continental Divide), written by John Fusco (the Young Guns films) and with some breathtakingly eerie photography of the Dakota Badlands, the film is an entertainment that has worthwhile messages - and offers striking comparisons with Australian aboriginal issues.

Michael Apted followed this film with a documentary on similar themes: Incident At Ogala.

1.Successful and interesting thriller? The Indian background? Questions of the environment?

2.The colour photography and Dakota landscapes? Visuals, mood? The Indian village? The contrast with Washington, DC? The musical score?

3.The title and the focus on Ray, on his ancestry, on his dreams and visions, the name in the cemetery? Symbol?

4.The introduction with the death of the Indian, realism, the death of the Indian as a symbol? The violence? The mystery? The reprise of this death sequence throughout the film? The victim, the truth? The conspiracy? The killers? The final confrontation - and the Indians surrounding the FBI in the circle?

5.Val Kilmer's portrayal of Ray: short back and sides, well groomed, a young man with success in Texas, his drive to Washington? The 1990s yuppy? The American Dream? The interview, his background? The task, the FBI motivation? His Indian background and the possibility of mediation? His disdaining his ancestry? His relationship with his mother, his memories of his father, the drinking, anger, death? His travelling to Dakota? His meeting Frank, his admiration for him, working together? The encounters with Walter, antagonism but admiration? Jack Milton and his men? The range of Indians in the village, his reaction to the village, to the lifestyle? The beginning of clashes?

6.The Indian world as a new world for Ray? The audience sharing his perspectives? On the Indians and their background, their heritage? The grandfather with his television and his mysticism? The children, the school? Prison and deaths? Maggie and getting Ray's help? The young boy and his injury? The conversations with Walter, the clashes, help with the investigation? Walter opening up the mysterious world of the Indians? The police work, the interviews, the puzzles? Jimmy Looks Twice and his anger, escape?

7.Building up the strategies with Frank, the traps, the Indians as elusive? The effect on Ray? The beginnings of sympathy? Helping the boy, Maggie's concern, consideration? The stakeouts and his changing perspective?

8.Maggie, her background, Minneapolis? Her role? The demonstrators, their stances, the political implications? Milton and his men, brutality, deals, politics? The violence? The pathos of Maggie's death? Discovering her body?

9.The grandfather, his wisdom, interactions with Ray, with Walter? His knowledge? The television? His wanting Ray's watch? The dreams, the significance for Ray? Walter's interpretation?

10.The set-up, the night, the grandfather? The place of Richard Yellowhawk? Confrontations, detective work, the truth?

11.The confrontations, Frank's role? His personality, links with Milton? Using the FBI - and racist attitudes? The uranium, the government? Information, plans? The confrontation?

12.Walter, the Indian background, his skills as detective? His jurisdiction and authority? Finding the body, the car? His relationship with the grandfather? The continual challenge to Ray? The confrontation with Milton and his men, with Frank? The danger, Walter sharing it with Ray? The Indians coming to their rescue and surrounding the men?

13.Ray and his change of heart - even change of clothes, more relaxed? The significance of his dreams, the change of life, Walter's envy? His future?

14.The race messages? Environmental messages? The setting from the '70s - and relevance for the '90s?