I guess I’m on an Indian movie kick. After watching Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee the other week, I discovered this little gem, The Education of Little Tree. Set in the 1930s, it tells the story of Little Tree, an eight-year-old boy who comes to live with his grandparents in a cabin in the remote mountains of Tennessee. Little Tree’s grandmother is Cherokee Indian, and his grandfather is white, but has “come to see the world through Cherokee eyes.”

Too far away from any school, Little Tree’s grandmother teaches him at home, starting with words from the dictionary. His grandfather teaches him how to make corn whiskey using bootleg distillation equipment hidden in the woods. And their closest neighbor, Willow John, teaches him the history of the Cherokee people and how they came to inhabit those stunningly beautiful Tennessee mountains.

Little Tree also quickly learns that Indian pride comes with a great deal of sadness, beginning with Willow John’s story about the Trail of Tears. When they go to church, he is taunted by a poor, bare-footed blonde girl who calls him “injun” and tells him, “Injuns is lazy and don’t work none.” And when the state welfare shows up at their house, his joy at hearing that he is counted as Indian per the census quickly turns to dismay when he learns what that means—that he will be sent off to an Indian boarding school until he is 18.

His experience at boarding school is much like Charles Eastman’s—his hair is cut, he’s re-named “Joshua,” and the discipline is severe, including solitary confinement. The contrast with the humble but warm and loving education given by his family is extreme. And the viewer can’t help but learn, along with Little Tree, where he rightly belongs in the world.

The Education of Little Tree (1997)
DVD Date of Release: March 2002
Based on The Education of Little Tree by Forrest Carter

Posted Mon, 09 Jun 2008 07:00:01 and filed under DVD of the Week, Movies, DVD, Adaptation Reviews. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.