Strangers In Their Own Land

Winner of numerous awards, including the Western Heritage Award, Strangers in Their Own Land looks and sounds just like a newscast--that is, reality is occasionally bent to work in a colorful phrase and subjects seldom receive more than surface treatment. Filmed in Oklahoma, the video is comprised of several segments, separated by a title screen to indicate where the commercials were. In one, we are told that the Kickapoo have mostly remained apart from white culture (even though our eyes are registering quite the opposite--garb that looks more K-Mart than traditional). We're told that they have made some concessions (we see a washing machine), but that they still dry their clothes in the air. The obvious implication here is that the lack of a dryer represents an ideological choice rather than an unfortunate economic reality. In another episode, we see a ceremony that has been--up 'til now--"shrouded in mystery," a Kiowa wedding ceremony which, when the bride and groom start talking, bears a striking resemblance to your traditional Judeo-Christian vow exchange. But the sections on drug and alcohol abusers in the big city are the saddest, both in reality, and in the soap opera rhetoric quality of the script. Paint sniffers we are told choose the color gold because it "puts a golden hue on an otherwise colorless existence." In the film's most poignant scene, authorities push a Native American man into a police car while the man tells the officers he misses the ponies on the open range and then attempts an emotionally strangled battle cry. Strangers in Their Own Land has its moments, but too much is pretty and hollow--style taking precedence over substance. The problems facing contemporary Native Americans today deserve more than this McNews hour. Not recommended. (Available from: Professional Media Services, 19122 South Vermont Ave., Gardena, CA 90248; (800) 223-7672.)