Irene Bedard looks great as she smiles through parochial school, which is described by Mary Crow Dog like this in her book: "When I was a small girl at the St. Francis Boarding School, the Catholic sisters would take a buggy whip to us for what they called 'disobedience.' At age ten I could drink and hold a pint of whiskey. At age twelve the nuns beat me for 'being too free with my body.' All I had been doing was holding hands with a boy. At age fifteen I was raped. If you plan to be born, make sure you are born white and male." The worst we see of school is the cutting of the braids and louse powder. Mary Crow Dog described hellishly turbulent times in the book, yet the movie glosses over them. Racism, brutal living conditions, drunkenness and poverty, are all addressed in detail in the book, but sanitized for the viewer's protection in the film. All we see is Mary smoking cigarettes and refusing beer in the back seat of a car.
The happily-ever-after ending of the film fails to address the many years and thousands of dollars it took to get her husband, Leonard, out of prison following the events. Oh, wait, the film didn't even show her marrying Leonard Crow Dog! Just a vague hint that he might be the father of her child.
The book also describes many tribal customs and rituals that the movie glosses over, which makes it look like so much mumbo-jumbo, "oh, look, they're dancing around in a circle," without any understanding of the significance to the Lakota people of the Sun Dance and Ghost Dance, which are covered in detail in the book.
Although I like Irene Bedard and think she's a fine actress, I just don't think she conveys the rage and anger that leaps off every page of Mary Crow Dog's book. Ultimately, though, that rage isn't in the script for her to convey.
Read the book.
The happily-ever-after ending of the film fails to address the many years and thousands of dollars it took to get her husband, Leonard, out of prison following the events. Oh, wait, the film didn't even show her marrying Leonard Crow Dog! Just a vague hint that he might be the father of her child.
The book also describes many tribal customs and rituals that the movie glosses over, which makes it look like so much mumbo-jumbo, "oh, look, they're dancing around in a circle," without any understanding of the significance to the Lakota people of the Sun Dance and Ghost Dance, which are covered in detail in the book.
Although I like Irene Bedard and think she's a fine actress, I just don't think she conveys the rage and anger that leaps off every page of Mary Crow Dog's book. Ultimately, though, that rage isn't in the script for her to convey.
Read the book.