From left: Dan (David William Beautiful Bald Eagle), Nerburn (Christopher Sweeney) and Grover (Richard Ray Whitman).
We are living on stolen land. And we need to reckon with the genocide that came before us. That’s the message underpinning the well-intended Neither Wolf Nor Dog, an independent film shot on the Lakota Nation’s Pine Ridge Reservation that is screening one night only at the Barrymore Theatre on Sept. 11.
Based on the novel of the same name by Kent Nerburn (who co-wrote the screenplay with Scottish director Steven Lewis Simpson), the film follows Nerburn’s journey through Indian Country as his hosts impart words of wisdom and list brutal historical facts.
I wanted to like Neither Wolf Nor Dog because of how rare it is to see Native Americans depicted realistically on screen. One of my favorites from way back in 1989 is Powwow Highway, a buddy road trip film featuring two members of the Northern Cheyenne tribe. That film was based in story and character, with memorable, eye-opening views of Native American communities.
Neither Wolf Nor Dog is also a buddy film, featuring an extended road trip. But it’s a film with an agenda, and it bangs you over the head with it.
To be fair, Simpson and Nerburn (the writers) are not unaware of the difficulty of having a white protagonist in a film about Native American life. Nerburn won a Minnesota Book Award for his novel in 1996, and by his account, he didn’t ask for this: He was summoned by a Lakota elder, Dan, who asked him to write a book based on his experiences and philosophies.
When the film begins, Nerburn (Christopher Sweeney), who is grieving his father’s death, gets a call from one of Dan’s granddaughters, saying he should come to the trading post (400 miles away) and ask for Dan. When he arrives, Dan says, “I’ve been waiting for you,” and hands him a box of notes that he hopes Nerburn will turn into a book. Dan’s skeptical nephew, Grover (Richard Ray Whitman), doubts Nerburn is up to the task — and so do we, the audience.
The film’s journey, which takes quite a long time to get started (the entire movie moves at a glacial pace), features a benign kidnapping to visit sites like the cemetery near the site of the Wounded Knee massacre. Through long stretches of gorgeous panoramas, impoverished towns and rundown roadside restaurants, Nerburn’s guides pile on the guilt-triggering facts. Nerburn is a reluctant white savior, wrestling throughout with shame. It’s hard to watch.
It’s easier to watch Dan, played by an amazing David William Beautiful Bald Eagle, a World War II veteran, dancer, stuntman and musician who died in April at the ripe age of 97. According to a fascinating obituary at NPR.org, Bald Eagle was 5 years old when the United States granted full citizenship to indigenous people.
But the presence of Bald Eagle, sadly, isn’t enough to save this movie. It’s just enough to make me sad that I wasn’t seeing a documentary about his life. Instead, this national treasure is reduced to spouting platitudes about listening to the wind and listing facts about massacres.
Nerburn’s character is a study in white fragility; he explodes several times at Dan and Grover, resisting the notion that he is somehow responsible for the actions of the white settlers. Sweeney’s performance is labored and overacted. And many of the Native American cast members seem uncomfortable, as if they are participating in an exercise in futility.
Neither Wolf Nor Dog seems to be a film for white people, meant to provide insight into the lives and history of Native Americans. It’s a noble sentiment. But the clumsy way it’s done may trigger resistance rather than move the conversation forward.
Then again, you get to watch David William Beautiful Bald Eagle on a large screen. And that is truly worth the price of admission.
