CRIMES AGAINST THE LAKOTA HAUNT WEST OF THUNDER
When the film begins, credits inform filmviewers of the Wounded Knee massacre and the forcible resettlement of the Lakotas to Pine Ridge Reservation in 1890. It is 1899, and Simon Seed (played by Dan Davies) appears in the town just outside the reservation. As the film progresses, those who committed offenses against the Lakota in recent years suffer in various ways or are found dead at the hands of Seed, who usually recounts what happened to provoke him – failing to honor food vouchers, killing tribal horses, participating in the massacre, contemplating the felling of sacred trees, etc. Sheriff Chapman (played by Clifford Henry) wants to arrest Seed but lacks evidence, so he turns Seed over to Lakota chief Little Thunder (played by Corbin Conroy). Seed’s revengeful actions, thus, constitute one possible response to deal with what the Lakotas have suffered. But Little Thunder and the Lakota elders believe that revenge provokes more revenge and must be avoided. The response, not clearly developed in the film, is a twice-quoted phrase, “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil.” With the tagline “No more silence . . . ,” the aim of West of Thunder is to break that silence, thereby meriting Political Film Society nominations for best film on human rights and best film on peace. MH