Wild Indian from Lyle Mitchell Corbine Jr., Ojibwe is a sad story. The life of two teenage boys takes a dramatic turn that impacts their entire lives. The two boys take opposite roads to adulthood, but both are still haunted by the past. The film stars Michael Greyeyes (Plains Cree from the Muskeg Lake First Nation in Saskatchewan), Chaske Spencer (Sioux, Nez Perce, Cherokee, Creek, French, and Dutch heritage) and Kate Bosworth. The film premiered in the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival last week.
THE PAST
Wild Indian starts in Wisconsin in the 1980s. Makwa (Phoenix Wilson) and Ted-O (Julian Gopal) attend a Catholic school and hang out in the woods, shooting guns after school. The film focuses on Makwa, a shy, awkward, and soft-spoken teen abused at home and school. Makwa wants nothing but to escape, preferably with the cute blonde girl in his class. Unfortunately, that cute girl has a boyfriend.
The guns belong to Ted-O’s father. After a bad day at home and school, Makwa sees the blonde girl’s boyfriend walking in the woods and impulsively shoots him, killing him instantly. Ted-O gets scared and runs away. Makwa finds him and makes the case that Ted-O’s dad could get in trouble if the body is found. Ted-O helps Makwa bury the body and they go on with their lives.
THE PRESENT
Fast-forward, about twenty years later, Makwa is now Michael (Greyeyes). He lives in California, has a beautiful family, and a successful job. Life is good for Michael until his wife, Greta (Bosworth) tells him that she’s pregnant. Michael doesn’t deal with his emotions very well. He hides his past and his violent nature. We only see his release when he visits a strip club and pays a stripper to let him choke her.
As for Ted-O (Spencer), he spent a lot of time in and out of jail. He gets out of jail and moves in with his sister and her son. Ted-O has a gentle nature about him, despite his appearance. This is evident when Ted-O takes his nephew to the park to play catch. The scene makes you smile. Ted-O feels a lot of remorse for what happened that day in the woods. He was never able to get over what Makwa did and even tries to apologize to the boy’s mother. He decides to find Makwa and confront him about that day.
Michael does his best to forget his past. So when he faces Ted-O after all this time, Michael is shaken up. His past is catching up with him, threatening the life he’s built for himself and the image that his colleagues have of him. Deep down Michael does feel remorse for what he did, but he would rather save himself than tell the truth.
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HAUNTING THEMES
Wild Indian is Corbine Jr.’s feature film debut. Corbine Jr. says the film developed out of feeling disconnected from his reservation. He tells a heavy story with a lot of themes that modern Indigenous people deal with. Identity, alcoholism, physical and mental abuse, and the feeling of belonging. He shows us two paths a person can take to either accept the consequences of our actions or run away from them. It’s not a story that a lot of people will enjoy. And unfortunately, I don’t believe non-Native people will understand.
What stood out to me the most was the way Makwa/Michael acclimated to a mainstream lifestyle to escape his past. It made me think of the trauma of boarding schools and how some Indigenous people lived an assimilated life. They tried their best to let go of their heritage, languages, and customs to fit into “white” society. They even married non-natives, so their children wouldn’t have to endure the hardships of being “Indian.” Mawka does this and succeeds, but at what costs?
I enjoyed Wild Indian because I recognized so much about the film as reality. I’ve met people like Makwa and Ted-O. Their story is sad but authentic. That’s the great thing about the Indigenous Program at the Sundance Institute. They give Indigenous creatives the tools and knowledge they need to make real, authentic stories. And give Indigenous people a voice and a face that most of the world forgot.
News Editor, Senior Contributor, and Press Editor. Coordinate breaking news, trailers and press releases. I also contribute reviews, recaps and interviews. Creator of the Indigenerd Wire, a column dedicated to the Indigenous creatives in pop culture.
GGA's resident Indigenerd, a little bit rez, a little bit classy...with a love for all things Star Wars, zombies, science fiction, and Indigenous. My ultimate goal is to start my own podcast.
