Medicine River

I have three minor things I picked out of the movie in general:

The movie Medicine River seems to be for Native Americans in some of the aspects, but it can be easily for the general audience as well. The theme of ‘returning home’ seems to be played out as the strongest and most obvious theme. As I was watching I got the feeling of it being Prodigal son-ish in nature as the film went on. As he’s returning back to his native land and is basically welcomed back with open arms, he has traveled and seen the world and as he comes back he realizes that this truly is his home.

The camera acted as something of large symbolic worth as seeing the world through someone else’s eye and in this case seeing the reservation and the people who live on it as something beautiful instead of what may be seen on as something terrible upon first impressions.

I found it slightly amusing that the film incorporated a “Stoic Indian “ in the elderly woman in the valley, but what I like is that they gave her a personality and sense of humor, they didn’t just group her into the category as wise old Indian, they created a person with a history.