Customer Reviews

Rez Bomb - Special Edition

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1 star:		(1)

 

 

Rez Bomb is a great independent film worthy of widespread attention. Billed as a Romeo and Juliet, it's actually about two youths on a journey not to find but to re-find each other in a world that has lost love and its soul. It's a kind of modern Odyssey that looks at the voyage from both the man and the woman's point of view. This and the sense of a broken world also breaks time in some ways and so the scenes do not follow a strict chronology. Some may initially find this confusing, though they are helped by subtle shifts in colour that cue you into which stage of the story you are watching.

It's not a reservation film or an Indian film, though people with an interest in either won't be disappointed. The original (and significantly inferior) screenplay was in fact set in the tenements of Glasgow, so even at the outset this film which has been a decade in the making was interested in the lost and dispossessed. But the theme of genocide and loss which could equally have been explored in the Scots version surfaces subtly yet with greater vigour here with the Lakotah, partly because of the physical isolation of the reservation and partly because race constantly seems to inspire greater crass prejudice than class alone, not to mention the fact that - against all odds - the Lakotah spirit has survived. If that makes it sound as if the film will be preachy, don't worry it: isn't. It has an altogether wider and much more deeply human vision for that.

The performances are consistently excellent from professional and amateur members of the cast alike, making for compelling viewing throughout.

Highly recommended.

This DVD is outstanding value for money, with same great documentary footage and interviews of the high plains folk, both red and white, and how their life is changing. In addition there's a great interview with American Indian Movement activist and Republic of Lakotah spokesperson Russell Means, who also apears in the film. For those interested in the Lakotah, the DVD is worth it for this alone.

If you've read this far, just get it!

I just finished watching my brand new copy of Rez Bomb this evening and I was NOT disappointed. Gritty is a great way to describe the film but, realistic is even better. Rez Bomb provides you with first person, narrative views of 'the hustle', its pitfalls and its resultant dangers.

Harmony, one of the main characters is in whole lot of trouble. She and her boyfriend owe a sizable amount of money to a dirty ol' money peddler named Jaws. Jaws gets his kicks from terrorizing the local people of Pine Ridge Reservation. He has no fear of lawful retribution because the FBI won't mobilize to enforce the law on 'Indian' land for a dead or beaten or raped Native man, woman or child--that would cost the U.S. government too much money. As a consequence, Jaws and his cronies have de-facto free reign on the rez.

Harmony and her white boyfriend Scott (played by Tamara Feldman and Trent Ford) have a plan to get them 'set up' and to get Harmony off the rez but,there is some trouble along the way. You root for Harmony and Scott throughout the entire film but, you especially root for Harmony. You respect her nerve, her tenacity, her cleverness and wit; you love her smile, her liveliness--her spirit. You want her to win and overcome and it is her character and the final outcomes that keeps you glued to the screen.

The film also accurately portrays the racial disharmony in U.S. society and the oppressor's idealism that they are saving the rest of us; we are lazy, disrespectful and lost savages that need them or we will be lost forever. In addition you see the sense of entitlement and superiority that the oppressor has in regards to the environment and our lives.

On board for this gritty and realistic thrill ride is the veteran talents of Russell Means, and the most handsome and very likable talents of Moses Brings Plenty and Tokala Clifford. Russell plays Dodds who gets bilked for some cash in the first chapter of the film setting the tone for the dangers to come. Tokala Clifford plays Chilik (looking wonderfully Rez Boy Fresh as Harmony's brother) and Moses Brings Plenty plays Johnny a drug dealer who is Scott's friend and ally.

This is a great film to own whether you like blockbusters or indies and can easily hold its own against other blockbusters films such as Snatch and The Grifters. The story line hooks you and the actors do the rest. It is a solid film and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The movie is a love story about a native woman and a white man trying to over come the poverty on America's poorest reservation while also trying to overcome the bad decisions that young adults often make. The story is narrated at times in the first person point of view from both the man and woman as if they were looking back on this time in their lives. The movie was filmed on the Pine Ridge Reservation and the lack of a studio in no way detracts from the movie; rather it adds to the realism of setting. The serious situations presented in the movie are off-set by laughable ones as the characters try to get out of the hole they have dug for themselves. Overall, this was a great movie and hopefully we can look forward to more from Mr. Steven Lewis Simpson.

Sorry,
but this film really sucks. Not the fault of the crew, but the storyline is weak and shows very little understanding of any real issues or problems on the rez (or any other impoverished community for that matter). I made it about twenty minutes into the film when I had to eject it.
Picture Pine Ridge....A White loanshark with no backup and no weapon enters a home with AIM stuff on the walls. Shoves the woman / mom around in front of a very large / tall / healthy man / dad. then he goes into the closet and takes what appears to be a pipe-bag and says he is going to hold it as collateral until the daughter pays him...and by the way, he also implies that he will be exacting sexual payment as well....
I know my fam would've buried him before his blood dried.
The transparency of the characters and the institutionally racist plot made this film weak and would probably not be a good resume boost for the aspiring Native actors who were hired to perform.