Week 5: The Doe Boy (2001)

The Doe Boy (2001)

Directed: Randy Redroad
Produced: Anthony Vozza, Chris Eyre, Jennifer Easton
Written: Randy Redroad
Rating: Not rated (language, minor violence)

Watch online: (available through netflix) http://www.netflix.com/Movie/The_Doe_Boy/60024393?strackid=6a72b28c43de138e_0_srl&strkid=975256097_0_0&lnkctr=srchrd-sr&trkid=222336

Review: http://www.weirdwildrealm.com/f-powwowhighway.html

"Hunter is a hemopheliac kid who lives in a rural area (the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma) where hunting is important. As a youngster, despite his hemophelia, his father (Kevin Anderson) takes him on his first hunt. Alas, while his dad was napping, the kid killed a doe.

As a kid, Hunter is played by Andrew J. Ferchland; as a young man he's played by James Duval, who that same year was Frank in Donny Darko (2001).

For years after Hunter became known as "the doe boy" who couldn't tell a buck from a doe. And his maternal grandfather Marvin turned it into the humiliating story "The Hunter Who Shot a Woman."

I hugely admired Gordon Tootoosis's performance as the grandfather. It was first off a well written role & Tootoosis made it real. He's not your standard wise old romantic snow-haired Indian such as populate cinema when it tries to be "sensitive" toward Native Americans but can often come off annoyingly sentmental, such as Tootoosis could easily play with conviction. The epitome of that type was Chief Dan George as Old Lodge Skins of "Good day to die" fame in Little Big Man (1970).

As pure romance the archetype has definite appeal, but it's not real. By contrast, Marvin even while he does embody history & the wisdom of elders, he also seems like an actual person, not a "noble savage" cliche. He's a good guy but with crabby moments like anyone.

Tommy Deer-in-Water (James Smith, Jr.) is a top local hunter, whom Hunter greatly admires.

Young Hunter, whose very name should have defined his destiny, was never given a second chance to hunt. Yet his desire to be a hunter has never left him.

He has no desire to do it "white man style" like his father, dressing up like a tree & hiding with a high powered rifle. Rather, he wants to be like Tommy Deer-in-Water who only needs one arrow.

For the bulk of the film it's about a mildly dysfunctional family coping, loving, dreaming, hoping, a universal tale for any race, though mostly about Indian characters.

It's early in the year 1980, a time when a number of hemophiliacs contracted AIDs from contaminated blood.

Hunter has to be tested & while waiting for the results, he knows only that live or die, he goes on a hunt with one arrow. The tension between the worry & the intent provides several beautiful, beautiful moments.

It's hard to describe such a sensitive realistic film adequately as I fear my discription has made it seem like a soapy soft slice-of-life, when it's packed with amazing performances that reach the heart with truths & human struggles, never relying on sentiment or tearjerking tricks.

The film was a great success at Sundance & lauded at numerous film festivals including at the American Indian Film Festival where it swept awards for best film, best director, best lead actor (Duval), & best actress (Jeri Arrendondo who plays Hunter's Cherokee mom).

The effectiveness of such a fine script so well acted is enhanced by a wonderful soundtrack. The music is by native artists, across the board superbly chosen."