Skins (film)

From NativeWiki

Skins is a 2002 drama about two brothers from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The film was directed by Chris Eyre and stars Eric Schweig and Graham Greene.

Info

Director: Chris Eyre
Writers: Adrian C. Louis (novel)
Jennifer D. Lyne (writer)
Starring:
*Eric Schweig
*Graham Greene
*Gary Farmer
*Noah Watts
*Lois Red Elk
*Michelle Thrush
*Nathaniel Arcand
*Chaske Spencer
Company: First Look International
Released: 2002
Runtime: 84 min.
Language: English

Plot summary

Rudy and Mogie Yellow Lodge are Lakota Sioux brothers on the Pine Ridge Reservation in Wounded Knee, South Dakota. Trapped by a community plagued with alcoholism and injustice, Rudy tries his best to take care of his alcoholic brother and his son, Herbie while doing his part to help the rest of the reservation as a police officer. When Iktomi the trickster spider appears, Rudy’s acts to save his people turn him into a vigilante. When he finds out who committed a recent murder, he disguises himself and beats their kneecaps to scare them into confessing. Next he burns down the liquor store of the border town after a news crew reports on the millions of dollars it is sucking from miserable alcoholic Indians. He doesn’t realize that his brother is inside the building when he sets it on fire. Mogie’s near-death accident awakens his family to hospital tests full of proof of his deteriorating health, including a terminal liver condition. Wracked with guilt, Rudy tells Mogie that he started the fire, and Mogie replies that the one thing he can do to make up for it is blow the nose off of George Washington on Mount Rushmore. Skins is a powerful tale of the bond between two brothers and the undeniable effect that the destruction in Native American history has had on their lives today. Through his sometimes extreme attempts to help his family and his people, Rudy explores his reasons for his actions and the reasons that his people and family are in a condition that needs such help.

Cultural Background

The Lakota Sioux originated from the Great Lakes region where they were called Dakota. When they were pushed West by European colonists, they became a part of the Sioux and called themselves Lakota. Today there are about 70,000 Lakota Sioux, 20,500 of which speak Lakota. Mogie and Rudy are Oglala, a “sub-tribe” of the Lakota which most residents of the Pine Ridge Reservation identify with. Pine Ridge, the reservation in southwest South Dakota where Skins takes place is the largest but poorest reservation, with unemployment at around 80% and 49% of its approximate 28,000 is below the poverty line. These statistics are unfortunately increases of those from 2002 when the movie was filmed. The harsh living condition and high rates of alcoholism and violence of this particular reservation is very apparent in the film. Mogie’s door is falling off of the hinges and every one of Rudy’s police calls involves either intoxication or violence or both. Unfortunately, the fictional film is a very realistic depiction of life on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Pine Ridge was originally part of the Great Sioux Reservation established by the Fort Laramie Treaty in 1868, but after several wars, including the Black Hills, the reservation was divided into seven reservations, one being Pine Ridge. On December 29, 1890, while the 7th Cavalry was moving the Oglala to Pine Ridge, 300 Oglala and 25 members of the 7th Cavalry were killed during what has now been named the Wounded Knee Massacre. Mogie and Rudy tell the story of Wounded Knee over dinner with Herbie and Aunt Helen. “At that time, all Indian religious ceremonies were banned because [white soldiers] were afraid of them” Rudy tells Herbie. It is obvious through Mogie’s anger during the the story that the injustice of the Wounded Knee Massacre still haunts him. Through the rest of the film, Mogie’s satirical humor makes it clear that the white man’s power still looms over Pine Ridge through the faces of Mount Rushmore that ironically watch over the reservation, and that he hasn’t forgotten the past. In more recent history of Wounded Knee, 1973 was the year that the AIM led the Wounded Knee Incident—a 71-hour stand-off between AIM members and FBI agents and the national guard when the AIM members seized the town. The incident triggered the violence that swarmed the rest of the decade at Pine Ridge, naming it the “murder capitol of the United States” with up to 170 murders to every 100,000 people in 1976. In Skins we see the residue of this brutality with one murder, one killing by a bear trap set for humans, and one instance of domestic violence, and two pairs of knee caps broken by baseball bat.