The Seventh Fire

It isn't a surprising look into the life of natives as I grew up around a reservation (Suquamish) and know first hand what drugs like meth and alcohol do to a community. This documentary film gives us a glimpse into the lives of 2 troubled individuals obviously suffering from substance abuse and alcohol. The kid in this film has a dad but his dad seemingly doesn't give a rat's ass about him and thus he enters the life of drugs and illegal activity. I've seen it in my own Samoan community as well. Good film very provocative but it kind of leaves you hanging in the end. I wish it followed up on the lives of the 2 that were documented in this film.

This documentary is produced by Terrence Malick, who took on the myth of the Native American in his Pocahontas adaptation The New World. But the place we see in this brutal and moving film is a far cry from the Native American ideal we typically see depicted on film. Pine Point Village, deep within the White Earth Indian Reservation, is a place of crushing poverty.

The focus is on two members of the community: Robert, a man in his forties, about to return to prison for the Nth time; and Kevin, on the cusp of his 18th birthday, trying to retire from a life of crystal meth abuse and low-level dealing. Problem is they both live in a town where drugs and violence are "a natural part of life".

Jack Pettibone Riccobono's style is objective and unsentimental, with cameras silently following the travails of the two, and their interactions with friends, clients, and law enforcement officers. The music is quietly brooding, and often matched by the imagery: storm clouds rolling in, and lightning striking the desolate earth. Furniture burns on sidewalks and kids fire BB guns, and everyone is smashed on booze and powder.

The two subjects are carefully chosen: Robert represents one possible (likely?) future for Kevin. Offending and re-offending; a cycle of freedom and incarceration. Robert's native name is "Two Thunderbirds". Thunderbirds, he explains, fly ahead and warn of encroaching storms. A wannabe writer, Robert sounds thoughtful and soulful in prison – once he's away from the bleak community that both ruins him and keeps him sane.

I came away from The Seventh Fire with a real sense of the lack of options available to those living on the reservation. (Or the perceived lack of options, anyway.) Kevin enrols on a gang intervention course, to start in the fall. But in the meantime he remains in the same hermetically sealed world that keeps him down, and he slips off the filmmakers' radar. When we glimpse him again, the disappointment is devastating. Can't he see the storm coming?

Your heart will hurt – not for the individuals, necessarily, but for a society with so much wealth and pride, yet which provides so many locked doors, and fosters so little hope.

I really didn't know what this film was about and hadn't heard about it before watching it. I was just hunting for something to watch on Netflix and here was this film. Within the first minute or so of the film I was mildly surprised to see "white earth reservation" appear on the screen and I was hooked.

It was a difficult movie to watch--to see what goes on behind some closed doors-- things you sense, things you just sorta know because you've lived or bore witness to somewhat similar circumstances yourself at one time in life.

The places in the film are old stomping grounds for me--been to every place and tribal building shown in this film. When viewed through a camera lens the film captures the subtle beauty of this part of the world. It also captures the isolation.

There is a pine point on every reservation I have ever been to, including my own village of origin. Its tough to look at, it may even be shocking if you've never seen it before.

I don't think showing what goes on behind some of the closed doors in neighborhoods like Pine Point is shaming or a reflection of the whole. What you see is real and I like that there is no pontificating or forced narrative driving the film. You just see a truth. A truth that has to be addressed if things are to change.

This problem of drugs and the cycle of addiction is not exclusive to AI communities. I could take you to neighborhoods in Bemidji, Cloquet etc. where the same story is playing out in predominantly white neighborhoods. It may be the government housing that makes it easier to pinpoint and centralize on reservations.

There is a difference though--the reason for the cycle in AI communities has different roots. You glimpse some of the root causes and the pain that creates this cycle in the film. You also glimpse how intractable it is The film doesn't really offer answers. You simply get an opportunity to come to know some of those who live and grow up in this pattern.

The lack of a message or arc to the film is unsettling. You want it to mean something or resolve in some way. For me, I guess if I wanted to find a message in the film, perhaps its the title.

Perhaps those who break the cycle will eventually lead the way out of this pattern. I hope so--for both those who shared their lives in the film and for AI communities as a whole.

Definitely worth seeing.

The community of Pine Point viewed the film and believes it portrays a very incomplete impression of the Pine Point Community. The Pine Point Community Council gave a statement that it does not endorse the film as representative of the Pine Point Community at large. The film shows a very negative side of the community. We are not saying that these problems of drug abuse, alcohol and gang activity don't exist, every community has these problems. It seems that this film is consistent with the usual media practice of highlighting this lifestyle on an Indian Reservation. And the general public thinks that all Natives live like this. This is unfortunate because the behavior that is portrayed in the film is a small fraction of the overall community behavior, and the film fails to highlight the vast spectrum of positive behavior in the community. For instance, the image of the car burning in the street happened to be a demolition derby car that was in the Rez car parade. Positive community events like: a drug and alcohol free music festival, annual pow wow, community Christmas dinner, Veterans dinner, haunted house at the old school, demolition derby, rez car parade, community picnics, weekly community fire, family fun day activities are not portrayed. The community council recently paid off a $50,000 loan that helped build the pow wow ground and softball field. The title of the film does not tell the true meaning of the Ojibwe culture and spirituality. Nor does the film show the true Ojibwe prophecy of the Seventh Fire. This leaves the viewer with a vastly incomplete understanding of our community. There are many natives from the community that enjoy a life of sobriety and there are those who are affected by drugs and alcohol who continue to fight to straighten their lives out and live the Red Road of sobriety.