Acting Against Racism in Mohicans
By Russel Means
What am I doing working in the movies? I have been asked
whether my decision to act in the "Last of the Mohicans" means that
I've abandoned my role as an activist. On the contrary, I see the
film as an extension of the path I've been on for 25 years -
another avenue to eliminating racism.
On Saturday afternoons in Vallejo, California my younger
brother, Dace, and I would go to the Esquire Movie Theater and
watch those damn cowboy-and-Indian flicks of the 40's, the ones
where the bugle sounds and the cavalry charges in and starts
killing Indians willy-nilly while everyone in the audience cheers.
Dace couldn't watch; he'd bury his head in his hands. When you're 8
or 9 years old, as we were, you think that maybe this time the
Indians are going to win, that this movie will be different. Then,
afterward, we'd leave the theater, and honest to God, we had to
fight back-to-back, just the two of us, against Mexicans,
Filipinos, Chinese, and black,s as well as the whites. All these
neighborhood kids saying, "Hey, Indians, we're going to whip your
ass."
So when I first received the script for Mohicans, I was
pleased that the Indians were more fully developed characters -
unlike the cardboard figures in "Dances With Wolves", a.k.a.
"Lawrence of the Plains." Despite his good intentions,
actor/director Kevin Costner utilized almost every known stereotype
except the drunken Indian -- even though the white man he plays
eventually throws his lot in with the Indians because they're so
much more spiritual and decent.
In Mohicans, on the other hand, the Indians are depicted as
equals with the white an; they interact both socially and
economically. Few people realize that in the 18th century, on the
frontier in the Atlantic Northeast, Indians and whites actually
visited each other's homes. I also love the politics of the film:
At a tiem when the French and English are vying for the economic
wealth of North America, frontier characters discuss individual
liberty as opposed to goverment control, which fits right in with
my own libertarian philosophy.
Mohicans is also historically and culturally reliable, except
for one scene that I objected to but that Michael Mann insisted
was necessary. I call it "the African village scene," because it
resembles those set pieces that appeared in old Hollywood movies
about Africa. The king or tribal chief would be sitting on his
throne, with the masses clamoring for the blood of the white
princess, and then the white prince comes and saves her. In
Mohicans we have two white princesses (only one of them is saved).
Despite my objections, the scene stayed in the movie. You don't see
those scenes in films about Africa anymore -- Africans have become
quasi-independent and more influential in the world -- so Hollywood
has transferred those stereotypes to the Indians.
On the set the problem I had wasn't with Mann, who had his hands
full, so much as with the assistant directors, who unconsciously
fell back on racist stereotypes. They'd yell things like, "Indians
over here!" I finally said, "Don't refer to us by race. If you do,
then say, 'Indians over here, white guys over there, and the Jews
behind the camera.'"
Difficulties began in the third week, when over 900 Indian
extras were brought in to North Carolina from all over the country.
They were quartered at an abandoned Scout camp. It was known as
Camp Mohican, and it resembled a concentration camp. Ther buildings
were made of cinder blocks, and six to eight people stayed in rooms
designed for two. Since the camp was isolated -- 30 miles from town
on a dirt road -- and the extras had no transportation, they were
stuck out there in the summer heat and 90 percent humidity. Most of
the Indians extras' scenes were at night, so they spent the hottest
part of the day in these hellholes, no way of getting out, buy a
Coke, or even seeing a doctor.
First the technicians went on strike, demanding better
conditions and a union contract; they received both. Then the
Indian extras struck, and Daniel Day-Lewis, Eric Schweig, and I
were the only cast members out on the picket line. I was asked to
take a list of their demands to Hunt Lowery, the producer, and he
agreed to everything. The strike was over in about four hours, but
the press reported it as if I were the leader.
My camaraderie with Daniel extended beyond the picket line. Since
he was playing my adopted son, he felt we should try to establish a
father-son relationship. Daniel told me his own father (poet Cecil
Day-Lewis) was older when he was born and died when was young. My
own father died when he was only 51 and was also distant; that
became a point of bonding between us. Daniel never stepped out of
character. He carried his musket with everywhere, even at night. It
was total immersion, and it carried over into a real feeling for
his Indian-reared character.
In general, the principals involved in production strived
for sensitivity, though there were many problems. I thought the
breechcloths were too small, I told Mann that Indians never wore
them that small, but he insisted the costumes were accurate because
he'd seen one on a dummy dressed up like an Iroquois in a museum --
a white museum, I reminded him. He let me wear the size I wanted,
but he left the others small, probablu to tittilate the women in
the audience.
Still, I consider these minute compared to Mann's genius
and the overall good that will come from the movie. Because the
educational system of the dominant culture doesn't let our children
know that American Indians existed in the 20th century, there's a
real danger in allowing Hollywood to define us. For all my
criticism of "Dances With Wolves," I realize it was a breakthrough.
It renewed interest in the American Indian, and Mohicans is part of
turning a corner. And when Wes Studi, a Cherokee who plays the
villainous Maqua, wins an Oscar, you will know we have made a
quantum leap forward from "Dances With Wolves."
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Russell Means, known for his active years with the American
Indian Movement, made his acting debut as Chingachgook in "The Last
of the Mohicans."
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Michele Lord + If you have come here to help me,
+ you are wasting your time.....
Alpha Institute + But if you have come because
+ your liberation is bound up with mine,
milo@scicom.alphacdc.com + then let us work together.
Aboriginal Woman
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