Chiefs

David Junge's Chiefs follows two seasons of the Wyoming Indian Chiefs basketball team as they go up against bigger and better-equipped high schools in their drive to the state championship, all the while asking the viewer to ponder whether basketball really offers a way out of the cycle of poverty and hopelessness for young men on the reservation. A student named Beaver is already at risk, smoking "weed," goofing off, failing at school, and deeply conflicted about leaving the "rez." Traveling to neighboring schools opens new worlds, but also brings reminders of everyday racism--war whoops and taunts about scalping--that lead the Native American basketball players to wonder whether they will ever fit into mainstream American society. The Chiefs' drive for the state championship sputters and stalls in the first season finals, but they go all the way in the second season. However, this isn't any Hoosiers-like triumph; graduates still must struggle at college or deal with the humiliation of unemployment (but the video does end on a note of cautious hope). Chiefs deserves a wide audience, and will hopefully spur discussion of how America treats its "at risk" youth. Highly recommended. [Note: drug use and strong language make this a questionable purchase for high school collections.] Aud: C, P. (S. Rees)