Filmmaker-guitarist George Lynch’s Shadow Nation combines a tour film with a documentary about Lynch’s interest in Native American history. Lynch (Dokken, Lynch Mob), seen with ever-present cigarette at hand, serves as onscreen host. During a tour though the West, he and band mates from his 2015 CD Shadow Train—Vinnie Nicastro, Gabe Rosales, Gregg Analla, and Donnie Dickman—speak to people they meet along the way (when Vinnie has to drop out, Jimmy D'Anda steps in). Lynch also speaks with fellow musicians, including Serj Tankian of System of a Down, and historians such as Noam Chomsky. The journey begins in the farming community of Paguate, NM, where Ritchie Anderson, a Navajo, talks about the pride he takes in four years of sobriety. In Borrego Pass, Navajo activist Clayson Benally notes the neighbors and livestock afflicted by birth defects and cancer due to uranium poisoning from the nearby mines. Although Lynch acknowledges oppositional political beliefs, he also meets with rocker Ted Nugent, who expressed sympathy for Native Americans in the 1987 song "Great White Buffalo." Since then, Nugent has transformed into a blowhard who believes that laziness rather than structural inequities explains the inability of some Americans to get ahead in life. Lynch has a more productive conversation with Santee Sioux poet and singer John Trudell, who speaks about the U.S. government's history of broken treaties, which is followed by a visit to Alcatraz Island where Native Americans made a stand for better living conditions in 1969. While it sometimes feels like two tangentially related projects combined into one, Lynch's desire to interest rock fans in Native American history is worthy. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (K. Fennessy)
Shadow Nation
(2017) 67 min. DVD: $24.99 ($199.99 w/PPR). Dreamscape Media. Closed captioned. Volume 33, Issue 6
Shadow Nation
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