When I saw those faces - faces that looked like mine on the screen - it changed how I looked at my career. And then around the time I was actually transitioning from dance into film was the era of “Dances With Wolves” and “Last of the Mohicans.” I was actually starting to see depictions that weren’t caricatures and were nuanced. And there was this strange disconnect with that knowledge and what I saw on screen. But I grew up in my community - I grew up with my family around me - so I knew who we were. I saw ridiculous representations of what people thought we were. Q: Growing up, did you see yourself reflected on screen?Ī: I didn’t see myself reflected at all. So all these notes that were in the script told me right away that I was looking at a landmark portrayal. He understood people, he understood the cost of war and he had witnessed destruction and illness. I’ve always looked at humor as a sign of awareness and intelligence. And that, I think, is the most rare thing that I see in scripts not written by us about our communities and about our heroes. How did the story veer away from those cliches?Ī: Almost immediately, I recognized his humor - how funny he was on the page. Q: You said you responded to the script because Sitting Bull was not depicted as a stereotypical noble savage. Greyeyes spoke from his home in Toronto, where he lives with his wife and two children, and serves as a theater professor at York University. The film is based on a true story about the friendship between the Hunkpapa Lakota leader and Catherine Weldon (Jessica Chastain), a widowed painter who traveled to North Dakota on a quest to paint Sitting Bull in the 1880s. For his latest role in “Woman Walks Ahead,” the 51-year-old plays arguably the most recognizable figure in Native history: Chief Sitting Bull. When he transitioned from dance to acting, he was always cast in Native roles, allowing him to learn about iconic characters like Crazy Horse and Wandering Spirit. Still, his ancestry remained vital to him. Though he was raised in the city, he and his family would travel from Saskatoon to the Plains Cree reserve nearly every weekend for powwows or tribal gatherings.īut at age 9, Greyeyes was accepted into Canada’s National Ballet School, so his entire family migrated east to Toronto. I love this move, but then the end? It just ends? Just.Growing up in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, Michael Greyeyes always felt close to his indigenous roots. If that’s not a real “man”, i don’t know what is- homie is a BAMF. Then Duncan- as a kid i ALWAYS hated him, he was such a douche to everyone, but then he sacrificed his literal life so save someone else- and was burned alive. I spent all of the movie till that point talking crap about how she was weak, needs sister, non reactive- and it all came together in that jump And I’ve gotta say- between those two decisions- id do exactly what she did. I was for real scoffing at her roll to a friend while watching the movie just now, and then i got to the part where Uncas is no more- and she made her decision. Alice is my first- like really? She’s that weak and feeble minded? I get trauma is tough, but i feel like more woman are like Cora - but ok whatever, there’s a Alice in every story i suppose. That being said, my pops had a few favs and this was one.įirst off- i love this movie, it brings me back to being a kid and I’ve got fond memories of that: However, i just watched this movie as a legit adult (I’m 35) and there are a few things. So growing up my dad LOVED this movie, so it sticks out a lot, bc i grew up in a world where i was not allowed to watch tv, movies, be on the internet etc (my fam was right between being mennonites and Amish).
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