Sioux City (1994)

Excellent

I had never seen this movie, but after reading some other reviews I thought I would try it. I'm glad I did. It was much better than I expected and hit on themes that are familiar to me from my research in Native Americans. I would highly recommend it if you like Native American issues and culture. September 10, 2008

Few get the birthday gift of knowing who they are

Dr. Jess Goldman's (Phillips) celebrating his birthday after 44 hours' straight duty at the hospital. He gets a small box with an interesting amulet inside and a note from the woman who used to be his mother, Dawn Rainfeather. She wants him to come back to the reservation to meet him and learn who he is. Though he's obviously Native American, he's been raised as a Jew since his adoption and that is the only culture he knows.

When he arrives at the reservation, he finds police crime tape and a mystery. Dawn Rainfeather died in a house fire. He goes the the police station to find out more and is told she was a drunken Indian who was probably smoking and fell asleep. When he sees a gunshot wound in the post-autopsy pictures, he asks for the case to be reopened. He's attacked and left for dead that night only to be saved by his Native American family and brought to the reservation to heal.

"Sioux City" is a well done crime thriller with a message about hate and racial identity. One interesting note, the Lakota rituals have been changed to protect their integrity.

Rebecca Kyle, July 2008

July 28, 2008

It Could Have Been A Very Different Movie

A Native American boy given up for adoption at an early age, raised by a wealthy Jewish family, now a medical resident at a Los Angeles Hospital has been having nightmares about events in his early childhood. He gets a cryptic message to return to the reservation where he was born. He finds that his birth mother has been murdered and sets out to investigate.
Lou Diamond Phillips handles the absurd Native American/Jewish upbringing with a goofy charm that is really wonderful. As I was watching this, I realized how easily this could have been turned in to a heavy handed comedy-mystery for somebody like Adam Sandler. Phillips always brings a natural grace to his work. (When one of the Native American characters makes a leaden comparison between Jews emigrating to Israel after World War II and Phillips return to the reservation you can't help but groan over the clumsy analogy.)
Although I guessed who the killer was and his motive long before it is revealed in the film, it was still diverting enough to keep me interested.
A fine supporting cast, beautiful photography.
This is one of those films that tries a little too hard to tie up all of the loose ends of the story for the finale, and that is its only real weakness. It doesn't so much end as peter out.
Any film that avoids the ultimate Southwest cliche, the obligatory encounter with a rattlesnake, is OK by me. July 21, 2008

surprise

one of best modern day indian/native anerican movie contrasting the old ways with the new.....colorful fast paced keeps your interest as you get involved in the ccharacters..LDP surprised me in the title role. sorry to say the reservations are so neglected but the land so beautiful.. you can imagine why no one trusted the outside world.....you know by history. April 24, 2008

Interesting yet smooth.

Lou Diamond Phillips is a great actor and carries this picture quite well. While the Direction is some what slow and it is easy to over look because of the fantastic acting.
Well worth the price I have watched it a number of times and still am able to enjoy it. April 12, 2008

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