Dance me outside (Canada, 1995)

Soon after I saw this movie I read Sherman Alexie’s Tonto book. Both of them emanate a similar atmosphere: the only way to deal with the limited choices of the reservation life for Native Americans is through humor and tradition. Or education as the protagonist tries to go to college here. But this is a thriller, where we, the audience think we know who is the murderer. It also has some indigenous pride sequences. Being an outsider, having heavily influenced by and against Hollywood I thought it could have a bit more of the latter. I cannot judge how authentic it was, but it seemed to me that tradition was not a large enough part of the people and the movie. But it was still a pleasant movie. Down to Earth and pragmatic as this quote from the bartender shows: “Two things happen to a man in jail. He comes out a killer or he comes out a Christian. Either way, I don’t want him in here.”

• IMDB
• VHS (@Amazon)