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The Paradise Perspective: Commentary from a Free and Compassionate Alternate Reality Volume 1, Number 34 Subtext Versus Jackhammer: Emotional Health and Ultraviolence in Pathfinder by Glen Allport Exclusive to STR September 18, 2007 Russell
Means,
the Lakota activist, actor, libertarian, and occasional political
candidate, has a new film out this year – Pathfinder:
Legend of the Ghost Warrior, released this past April and now
available on Like
Kevin Costner's 1990 Dances
With Wolves and Mel Gibson's 2006 Apocalypto,
Pathfinder introduces us to
peaceful, charming natives who come under attack by a violent and
stunningly cruel external group. The natives and their contrast with the
invaders form the heart of the film – although this seems a minority
opinion. More on that later. Pathfinder's
protagonist is played by Karl
Urban, probably best known for his role as a corrupt Russian agent
trying to kill Jason Bourne in The
Bourne Supremacy. Urban looks so different in Pathfinder that I had to read the credits to learn who he was; there
is not a moment in Bourne when
Urban looks as sweet-natured as he often does here – surprising, given
the level of violence in Pathfinder.
Urban's character is raised among Wampanoag Indians after being
shipwrecked as a boy of twelve. The boy, well-played by Burkely Duffield,
is rescued by an Indian woman (Michelle Thrush) who finds him in the
wreckage of a Viking ship, surrounded by weapons and by the corpses of
slaves or prisoners, some in chains. She becomes the boy's adopted mother,
and the tribe calls him Ghost. Russell Means plays a neighboring tribe's
Pathfinder, a shaman and the closest thing I recall in the film to a chief
or other formal leader among the Indians.* The casting and acting are
uniformly excellent. Vikings
return after Ghost has grown to manhood. While Ghost is on a hunt, they
attack his village and murder everyone, including his adoptive parents.
The Vikings are shockingly brutal, not only in this initial assault but
throughout the film. There is enough mass-murder, torture, dismemberment,
and other atrocity here to repel many viewers. The
Orlando Sentinel called Pathfinder
"gloriously gory," something I know only because the film's official
website features this quote on its home page. The description fits. Ghost
has been practicing with a Viking sword even since before being
shipwrecked in childhood. The sword is as eerily high-tech in this setting
as any science-fiction weapon, easily slicing through the Indians' wooden
spears. Both Ghost and the marauding, anonymous Vikings (between full-face
helmets and facepaint, it's difficult to tell one Viking from another) use
their swords to devastating effect; limbs fly from bodies, faces are
split, eyes are lost, and blood sprays everywhere. Disappointing
box-office numbers suggest director Marcus Nispel may have overdone the
mayhem and cruelty, at least from a marketing standpoint. Many reviewers
complained about the level of violence in Pathfinder.
Strong reactions to this violence may have blinded some to the artistic
merits of the film and, more importantly (to me, at least), to the
haunting depiction of the Indians as a warm and emotionally healthy group
of people. The
flip side of any argument against so much violence and cruelty is that
nothing Nispel can show us is beyond what
actually happens in the world. The harsh, unrelentingly sadistic
character of the Vikings not only contrasts strongly with the peaceful and
compassionate character of the Indians, it describes a horror so commonplace
throughout history as to make one wonder how the human race has
survived to this point – and whether we can survive for long in the
future. The
answer to that last question will be determined by how quickly and
dramatically we can raise the levels of love and freedom in this world. -
- - - - The
violence of Pathfinder is hard
to ignore in the same way that noise from a nearby jackhammer is hard to
ignore, but the most important things in life (or in film) are not always
the loudest. Director
Nispel, screenwriter Laeta Kalogridis, and the many actors cast as Indians
have created a charming, attractive, peaceful, strong, and affectionate
tribal group. They did this with great economy, as was necessary given the
time constraints (99 minutes of running time). Despite the time
limitations, Pathfinder succeeds
in providing a tantalizing, heart-warming introduction to a group that
seems far more emotionally healthy than do most modern "first
world" citizens. Easy affection, direct and honest talk, and relaxed
physical contact are all part of daily life among the Wampanoag. This is
not a group of saccharine Disney bunnies but instead a tribal village of
real human beings – without the crushing load of emotional damage so
visible among most people today and throughout history. One
need not be raised in a pre-modern tribal setting to become an emotionally
healthy human being, and for that matter plenty of ancient settings,
tribal and otherwise, have created monsters. Yet it is not only in movies
where one sees, at least occasionally, startling examples of emotional
health within tribes that are physically or temporally far from modern,
high-tech life. Here's a brief description of the Yequana Indians of
Brazil from Jean Liedloff, who lived with the tribe for several years in
the 1970s: The
notion of ownership of other persons is absent among the Yequana. . . .
Deciding what another person should do, no matter what his age, is outside
the Yequana vocabulary of behaviors. There is great interest in what
everyone does, but no impulse to influence – let alone coerce –
anyone. –
Jean Liedloff, The
Continuum Concept: In Search of Happiness Lost Imagine
a world where people care about each other, are compassionate with each
other (as Liedloff's book makes clear the Yequana are), and have no "impulse to influence – let alone coerce –
anyone." That would be the end of war and of almost any human evil of
any kind. Love
and freedom only work together; they are two sides of a duality in life
that cannot be broken. When both love and freedom are at high levels in
society, then you have a healthy situation. In fact, you have an Earthly
Paradise. The other details are merely that: details. Any
work of art which can open a window on such a world, however briefly or
incompletely, is worthy of praise. How
could such a world come into being? The
same way it comes into being now – as it does,
here and
there, in small groups in various places. The
process starts at birth and even before: love begets love; pain begets
pain. To expand on that thought: 1.
The human world is as we make it. 2.
The character of each adult is largely shaped in the earliest months and
years of life. 3.
Consistent love and respect given early in life create healthy, loving
adults who respect others. 4.
Any person or group which improves the lives of pregnant mothers, infants,
or children contributes to the goal of a healthy world. To a lesser
extent, improving the life of any person contributes to the goal. 5.
Enough healthy, loving adults will make a healthy, loving world. 6.
Freedom is a necessary part of love. Unfreedom (coercion) is abuse; it
erodes and destroys love. 7.
Change happens when enough people share the necessary understanding. -
- - - - Pathfinder
is essentially two films: the stylized, blood-spewing, ultra-violent
thrill ride that was advertised in the trailers, and an endearing visit to
another world entirely: the world of our hearts, the world we were born
for, all of us, whether we know it or not. The
second film is all-too-brief, but it is the subtext for the whole
enterprise, and I recommend it highly. -
- - - - * Russell Means strongly prefers "American Indian" to "Native American" and explains why in I am an American Indian, not a Native American! (scroll down for this topic). Means' comments on patriarchy versus matriarchy are also worth mentioning here, given the topic of this column. Glen Allport is the author of The Paradise Paradigm: On Creating A World of Compassion, Freedom, and Prosperity and maintains paradise-paradigm.net. This is one in a series of columns on the human condition.
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