Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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101 of 107 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
explores two different approaches to warriorship, July 27, 2000
The first time I saw this movie, I was struck mostly by how much fun it was to watch. There is an offbeat, good-natured humour that softens the harshness of some of the settings and situations. (Much of the music is beautiful--it's by Robbie Robertson but he's not mentioned for it in the credits.) The story line is well-developed, with good transitions between two converging sub-plots. The basic plot is quite simple: two friends, Philbert Bono (Gary Farmer) and Buddy RedBow (A Martinez) take off on a road trip from a Montana Indian reservation to New Mexico in order to get RedBow's sister out of jail. Along the way they form a friendship, despite differences in personality and ways of looking at life.
Upon the second viewing, it became clear to me that much of what divides them in the beginning has to do with different styles of being or becoming a "warrior." Redbow is a Vietnam vet, as well as an activist who had been present at the Wounded Knee conflict. He has a lot of anger about the depredations of white people as well as, I suspect, his Vietnam experience. His idea of carrying out a campaign has to do with fighting, guns, and discharging rage.
Philbert Bono, on the other hand, has never seen any combat action. He's a peaceful sort and regarded by others as an overweight buffoon. However, he's on a spiritual quest to gather power and become a spiritual warrior. His idea of carrying out a campaign has to do with getting the universal forces on his side.
By the end of the film the two men have worked out a strong friendship and respectful working relationship, but it is clearly Philbert's approach to warriorship which carries more weight in the final victory. The movie does have a few plot flaws, but they are insignificant compared to the interest evoked by Philbert Bono's journey, which is one of inner seeking combined with action in the outer world.
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41 of 43 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Quiet Masterpiece, May 21, 1999
This deceptively simple "road buddy" film was first introduced to me in 1991 when I was researching Native American culture for my 2 children so they would better understand their heritage. What a feast for the eyes,ears and spirit! The score,some of it by Robbie Robertson (U2) is a wonderfully effective backdrop that carries us into the world of one Native American's unique vision quest. One scene that comes to mind is when the gentle Cheyenne named Philbert Bono (Gary Farmer) surveys a dilapidated junk yard full of wrecked cars, but sees instead a herd of wild ponies galloping on the plain. His choice of a "pony" is a broken down Buick,yet to him it's as noble as any horse that ever ran. And so it goes. A. Martinez is facinating as Buddy RedBow, Philbert's activist friend who joins him on the road. The film weaves together humor and pathos,fantasy and realism for a story that entertains while it touches the spirit and makes one feel,at least for a little while, as if life could indeed be as Philbert sees it; and wouldn't that be a wonderful,magical thing! I have not seen this film since 1992 and thought I might never again. That Pow Wow Highway is available now is a dream come true. I cannot recommend it highly enough!
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19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
My pony flipped me!, June 13, 2005
Not my usual film fare, I happened to bump into this film by accident and I'm glad I did. While my knowledge about Native American culture is anything but comprehensive, I found myself swept along 'Pow Wow Highway.' A touching and funny peek into the reservation blues that are part and parcel of the American 'Indian' experience, this film touches all who take a chance on it.
This could have another been another Smoke Signals, poignant and light-hearted, but this film has more meat to it. The reason: the very meaty and lovable Gary Farmer. Farmer's heart-warming performance as Philbert Bono---overweight warrior on his own vision quest---is reason enough to watch this film. Farmer's character doesn't say much nor does he need to. Every stare, twinkle in the eye, and puckish smile tells us everything we need to know.
The film starts off with Philbert daydreaming in his reservation's junk yard. The ugliness of reservation reality surrounds: flimsy mobile homes and trashed-out cars, but Philbert sees beyond all that. He spies himself his 'war-pony,' a rusted-out '64 Buick and saddles up for his adventure. His quest is to become a true Cheyenne warrior. Things don't start off so smoothly as Philbert's childhood friend, the angry young AIM-er, Buddy Red Bow (A Martinez), sets out to rescue his sister. Caught with weed in her car, Red Bow is determined to set her free from the hayseed Anglo cops of the Santa Fe PD. Thus begins Red Bow and Philbert's journey of self-discovery. A journey of finding out what it means to be Native American, and more importantly, what it means to be human. Like Sancho Panza and Don Quixote, Philbert and Red Bow represent two sides of the human coin: passion and reason. Red Bow is all anger and resentment against an Establishment that has robbed, raped and killed his people for over three hundred years. In every scene, we see the seething revolutionary ready to strike. At anybody. One of the film's funniest scenes is when the war pony needs a stereo. Confronted with a condescending salesman, they surprise him and buy the priciest stuff in the shop, shattering his 'impoverished Indian' stereotype. Soon installed in the pony, the new equipment doesn't seem to work, sending Red Bow into a rage, thrashing both shop and owner. And through it all, Philbert searches for and finds the problem: in the instruction manual. Think before you act. A clichéed lesson, but valuable all the same. This interplay between Philbert and Red Bow dominates the whole trip. Whereas Red Bow talks like a warrior, Philbert acts like one. With shrewdness, intelligence, dignity and most of all, humor, Philbert becomes the 'trickster' indeed, masking a deepness of character beneath his childish silliness. Red Bow bitches about the Pine Ridge Pow Wow being nothing more than 'drums in a gym,' while Philbert involves himself in every bit of his past he can. He beats the drum, he climbs the sacred Black Hills, he talks of Cheyenne legends over the CB, while Red Bow fumes and glooms. Red Bow even mistakes the Hills for 'somewhere outside Pueblo.' A grand faux pas. As a result, it is Philbert who becomes the real hero, the real warrior. His weapon is his quietly earned self-knowledge. With silent strength and subtle humour, he takes back what Red Bow with all his rebellion can't: an identity nearly destroyed through years of oppression and negligence. It is no coincidence that by the time they free Red Bow's sister (again, Philbert's doing), Philbert has transformed into his real self: Nightcloud Whirlwind, a warrior.
The beauty of this film is that is goes far beyond social history. Pow Wow Highway shows the wide range of 'types' in the Native American community from assimilated 'collaborator' selling tribal land to mining companies to the tortured and lost Vietnam veteran (brilliantly played by Graham Greene). So wide and rich is the film's parade of characters that we forget that this is supposed to be a 'Native American' film. We see friends and family in these characters and yes, eventually ourselves. And this I think was director Wack's goal: to break down the borders set up by our labels, Native American or otherwise.
While the ending is a bit too predictable and some characters never really get to fly (Red Bow's sister, the fellow AIM activist), Pow Wow Highway is well worth the watching. Follow Nightcloud Whirlwind as he proves the adage: its the quiet ones you need to watch out for.
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