User Reviews

Following the release of 'The Birth of the Nation (1915),' director D.W. Griffith has often been branded with the unfortunate attribute of being a racist. While it's difficult to argue with that film's unabashed advocacy of the KKK, it's also interesting to observe a few of Griffith's other films, in which he displays an undeniable sensitivity towards other cultures. Take, for example, 'Broken Blossoms (1919),' where a Chinese immigrant (portrayed, admittedly, by American Richard Barthelmess) is shown to be, by far, the film's most compassionate and respectable male character. 'The Red Man's View (1909)' was one of hundreds of short films that Griffith produced for the Biograph Company from 1908-1913, and it represents a pivotal step in the development of the Western genre. One of the earliest to explore the conflicts between Native Americans and European settlers, the film treats the plight of the Indians with respect and empathy, quietly condemning the actions of the "conquerers," who invaded the land and left countless tribes homeless.

Living a comfortable and happy existence in the remote wilderness, a Native American tribe goes about its daily business. A young man, Silver Eagle (Owen Moore), has fallen in love with a beautiful maiden, and it seems that nothing can come between the adoring couple. However, as one might expect, a conflict of cultures is on the horizon. A ragged pack of unkempt settlers emerges over the hill, pistols at their sides, and they arrogantly demand that the Native Americans move from the area. After a brief but fruitless protest, the tribe chooses to avoid a violent confrontation and regretfully departs, but not before the nefarious settlers claim Silver Eagle's young maiden as their own. Torn between the love for his sweetheart, and loyalty towards his dying father, the young man mournfully follows suit. The tribe walks for miles, it seems, but they are unable to find a suitable place to live. Having been permanently uprooted from their home, they must accept the sad truth that their lives will never be the same again.

Working with a running time of just eleven minutes, Griffith has very little time to recruit our sympathies for the primary characters, but he does quite an good job. There's something inherently devastating in watching the tribe marching solemnly away from their spiritual home, a slow, sorrowful procession of broken souls. For some reason, John Ford's 'The Grapes of Wrath (1940)' – another film about a displaced family – came immediately to mind during these sequences; it's an uneven comparison, of course, but that's just the association that my brain made. Griffith almost fools us into accepting a makeshift happy ending, as one settler suddenly attains a conscience and apologetically returns Silver Eagle's maiden to him, but the conclusion is more tragic than anything else. Silver Eagle mourns at the side of his deceased father, knowing that, even with his sweetheart by his side, his tribe has no home to which they can return. If only for its unique storytelling perspective, 'The Red Man's View' is essential viewing for anybody wishing to experience yet another aspect of America's first great director.

"The Redman's View is self-evidently based on a premise with Indians; Griffith utilized obscure and rather nondescript actors to portray the Indians. This was seminal in his oeuvre chiefly because he skillfully used this premise for a lot his movies ranging from about 40; the camera angles subject you to the focal Indian tribe, so it doesn't badger them in this instance.

We get an exploration into the idiosyncrasies of the Indian characters - one example being of how their old relatives are treated before they die; this scene is nearly visually similar to "Birth of a Nation" where the clan are domineering menacingly over a victim (you'll find it on Google Images or Ebert's review of it).

Owe Moore and James Kirkwood play Silver Eagle and his father and Lottie Pickford plays the embattled Minnewanna; it initially chronicles on their state until it all blows out into the now conventional battle of western culture and Indian Culture as we have seen in John Ford's "The Searchers" and generally in folklore.

Griffith uses atmosphere to the best of his advantage, imbuing it through the setting of a desert and flowing it with the sense of perspiration and pain; although not the way it's channeled today as it's counterproductive from these standards. On its merits imagine in 1909 being swooped away into such a place?

It's not my favourite Biograph but I still think it should be recognised for its manipulation of cult wars. Apart from that it's an experience!