WILD INDIAN

US, 2021, 90 minutes, Colour.

Michael Greyeyes, Chaske Spencer, Jesse Eisenberg, Kate Bosworth, Phoenix Wilson, Julian Gopal, Scott Haze.

Directed by Lyle Mitchell Corbine Jr.

Wild Indian is a brief film focusing on Native Americans, a Native American writer-director, while Mitchell Corbine Jr, the two central men in the narrative, Michael Greyeyes and Chaske Spencer. There is support from white actors, Jesse Eisenberg and Kate Bosworth.

The film is in two parts. It opens with two boys, around the age of 12, at school, their families, friendships, disputes, one boy, Mak’wa, coming from a troubled family, and his friend Teddo, involved in a fatal sequence where Mak’wa shot a young boy.

The narrative then skips a generation, Mak’wa in California, calling himself Michael, wife, business success. By contrast, Teddo has been involved in petty crime, drugs, spent most of his time in jail.

The drama shows Teddo having some kind of remorse, wanting to seek out Mak’wa for some kind of resolution, Michael now resisting the situation, violent towards Teddo with some dire consequences.

While the plot is interesting in itself and the contrast between the two boys and their young lives and their success of lives, it is also interesting in the context of opportunities for Native American boys in the 1980s – and their lives and succeeding decades.

1. The title? Traditional white American perspectives on Indians, wild? The condescending attitudes, prejudice?
2. This film written and directed by Native American, Native American stars, the supporting white stars?
3. The prologue, the old Native American, going out into the countryside, the plague? The recurring this theme at the end? Symbolic of k’wa? Symbolic of Teddh?
4. 1984, the reservation, the Native American tribes, families, violence and abuse, schools, teachers, the priest, religious supervision, discussions, moral perspectives?
5. The story of Mak’wa, his age, his mother giving birth when young, her neglectful attitude, his father, young, brutal? Mak’wa at school, with the priest, in class, his friendship with Teddo, attraction to the white girl, jealousy of the boy attracted to her? Sullen in his attitudes, the authorities? In the countryside with Teddo? The discussions, Teddo and his family? The gun, the shooting of the boy, Mak’wa’s reaction, Teddo’s reaction, the cover-up?
6. The move to the 2010s? Audience surprise at what has happened to the two? Mak’wa, becoming Michael, in California, successful, business contacts, discussions of contracts, meetings? Office, clothes, Finance? His wife, child, the fulfilment of the successful American dream?
7. Teddo, in jail, being released, drug dealing environments, the years in jail? Getting out, meeting up with his sister, trying to get a job?
8. The buildup to the confrontation between the two men, Teddo, his conscience, confessing to the killing of the boy and the cover-up? Tracking down Mak’wa? Going to California, the confrontation between the two men, discussions, conscience issues? Mak’wa and his fears, violence, the gun, killing Teddo?
9. The law, the police, investigations, Michael going back home, the encounter with Teddo’s sister, legal aspects, his business future, wife and child, his decisions for his future, to lose himself in this white world?
10. The finale, the old man leaving civilisation? Mak’wa, his conscience, stifling his conscience, his future?