South by Southwest ‘08: Older Than America

(Reprinted from Short End Magazine)

With all the problems facing us in the 21st century, it’s easy to forget about the struggles of the past and what we can learn from them. By weaving a complicated plot of supernatural thrills, historical and personal drama and political intrigue, Older Than America touches on one such issue, that of the treatment of Native Americans–both current and historical–in the United States.

The displacement of indigenous people is one of the most complex, confusing and painful issues facing the western world. The knowledge that our prosperity exists at the expense of previous civilizations and cultures is difficult to accept, and the complexity of the issue makes it a difficult subject for a drama.

The film focuses on the former real life practice of housing Native American children in religious boarding schools, and the abuses that took place by school members attempting to “civilize” the children. The main plot takes on a supernatural angle as Rain, played by the film’s writer/director Georgina Lightning, begins having visions of specific abuses that took place at one such boarding school in her community. Rain’s relationships with her family and partner Johnny also figure into the drama, as do religious and political themes.

Despite the film’s many twists, it succeeds more as a sociopolitical study than it does as a thriller. As a suspense film it tends to fall back on well-established genre conventions; however, it is full of well drawn instances of tension between the town’s Native and white population. The most engaging moments come in the portrayal of the small struggles of the Native characters. For example, Johnny’s conflicts as a reservation police officer against local bureaucracy represent an obvious continuation of governmental subjugation of Native people. The subplot of Steve Klamath, a Native American politician, challenging the incumbent mayor is an interesting nod to the frustrations of small town politics and could stand on its own as the subject for a film.

Older Than America is so thick with multiple plotlines that it almost doesn’t focus enough on its primary one. The story of the boarding school is mainly told in flashbacks and visions, and ultimately it feels a bit lost amidst the rest of the action that takes place, a bit of a shame considering that lessons about the dangers of placing someone in a morally or spiritually superior position are so relevant to our current times.

There are many parallels between America’s growth and western expansion in the 19th century and the current political and foreign policy situations facing us in the 21st century. Older Than America brings to the fore difficult questions about the callous and often violent results of disrespecting other cultures, be they children in a boarding school or suspected enemy combatants in overseas prisons.