Older Than America (2008) Reviews

• Harsh Truths

  gfloonsfoot2009-06-09

  This movie really is not a view of life in boarding schools, per se. I don't believe it was intended to be. It is a metaphor for the effects still felt today by nearly all Native Americans here in the U.S. The movie "is" a period place. All of the issues that the story touches base on are those that Natives all over Indian Country are dealing with today. It is not the direct reflection of one single reason why Natives today face the afflictions of poverty, alcoholism, abuse, unemployment, illiteracy, and loss of identity as a culture, but the culmination of many. Forced attendance into an institution specifically designed to strip away everything it means to be "Indian" just so happens to be the primary area of focus in this film. The sub-plots add depth to the characters as well as much needed comic relief. Even though this film is classified as a drama, it should be shown in every history class across the United States, right after the lesson on the first "Thanksgiving".

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• A good story doesn't make a good movie

  Ketzel2010-04-10

  I saw this movie because it was rated 9.5 at this site on April 9, 2010. Minutes into the film, I could tell that this was rating was due only to the subject matter and not the quality of the film itself. The script and acting are mediocre to poor, and the story is predictable from start to finish. If you don't know Native American history, this film should be an eye-opener. If you do, as I did before watching the movie, you will be pleased to see that this important aspect of Native American history was made into a movie. If only it had been made into a movie worth seeing. I could see that everyone involved with the making of the film tried their best, but it didn't work. Very disappointed. 9.5? No, it's just a 5.

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• Good intentions; not so good results

  dinky-42008-03-09

  The story of American Indian boarding schools needs to be told. In the past Indian children were taken from their parents, often forcibly, and put into highly-regimented schools designed to eradicate all signs of their "savagery." Use of Indian languages in these schools was forbidden and harshly punished. This movie probably should have been a "period place" showing the experiences of an Indian child thrust into the soul-killing world of the boarding school. Perhaps it was feared this approach would limit the size of the audience. In any case we get a modern-day story, set in northern Minnesota, in which a boarding school is glimpsed only occasionally in brief flashbacks. Surrounding these flashbacks lies a plot cluttered with a bewildering number of elements: the arrogance of the Catholic Church, shock treatments, commercial development of sacred Indian lands, an election for mayor pitting a white man against a red man, gambling casinos, a love story, hallucinations and visions, family secrets leading to tensions, a bizarre crucifixion-style murder, etc. There's even a subplot involving a geologist investigating earthquakes! All this clutter is unnecessary and self-defeating because the story which the movie wants to tell is strong enough as it is. It doesn't need to be "packaged" with elements which tend to detract from it rather than enhance it.

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• A powerful film with a big message!!

  BigLaxFan942009-07-28

  This film is very powerful since it delves into all the horrific traumas that Native kids went through at boarding schools everywhere in the States, not just in Minnesota. This one should take the blinders off of every white person who thinks that Indians "have always had it easy" or "good"!! Viewers of this film should realize the horror of these death camps that were disguised as "boarding schools"! Many children died at the hands of the priests, nuns and all the other school personnel. I strongly suggest watching this for anyone who dislikes Native people for their "bad qualities"; the ones who think that Natives are only "one of society's many problems". You'll know what I'm talking about after watching it. I hope the film will literally open your eyes and see the truth! That's why this film was released, to make the public aware of the atrocities that occurred. ANYWAYS...that's why I gave this a 9 out of 10.

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• Really worth watching

  terryflows2012-09-14

  I was surprised by the negative reviews of this movie. I found it entrancing. It's a glimpse into a different culture, and a different way of thinking. I don't believe this is a ghost story, as much as a taste of a different world view. I loved the Original American sensibility that permeates the film-- from the slow, considering way of speaking, through the belief that visions are real, to the effort to show that the unspoken of the past must be brought to light for harmony to prevail. The actors are so believable. I ended up with empathy for everyone (and want to know more of their story-- hint hint) The movie caught the insular nature of a small, isolated community. Until you've spent a fair bit of time in one, you wouldn't believe the power that authority figures have. Unless you've been around Catholics or Protestants of the older generation, you wouldn't believe the power that a priest can have. Unfortunately, I've experienced both, and the aunt/priest/lock-up-the- truth-sayer scenario rang true to me. I think that the European American scientist character is supposed to be a device to represent a modern western view of the situation. It is a little raggedy, but that's OK because the story is so powerful on its own that the character is a non-interfering sidelight to the story. I look forward to watching more films by these writers and directors.

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