The Sundance Film Festival this year featured a rather timely film named ‘Free Leonard Peltier.’ This documentary, helmed by directors Jesse Short Bull and David France, delved into the life of Leonard Peltier, a Native American activist. Peltier has spent almost half a century behind bars for the murder of two federal agents, although he persistently maintains his innocence.
Coincidentally, this documentary had its premiere just a few days after President Joe Biden had granted clemency to Peltier, a controversial decision made in the dying minutes of Biden’s presidency. This hasty action sent the film’s creators scrambling for edits to add this unexpected turn to their product.
‘Free Leonard Peltier’ paints Peltier, a high-ranking member of the American Indian Movement (AIM), as a martyr, tirelessly battling against perceived injustices by the US government towards native communities. The aim was for Peltier’s contentious narrative to gripped a new generation, highlighting the contentiousness of not only his case, but also his entire life.
This isn’t Peltier’s maiden voyage onto the silver screen, mind you. His contentious case and life were previously fictionalized in ‘Thunderheart,’ a 1992 drama directed by Michael Apted. In addition, Apted’s well-regarded documentary ‘Incident at Oglala’ had already served as an information source about Peltier’s story for previous generations.
On June 26th, 1975, the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in Wounded Knee, South Dakota, became the battleground between armed FBI agents and local activists. A subsequent shootout claimed the life of two FBI agents and one activist, Joe Stuntz. Peltier was quickly designated as the leading suspect charged with shooting the agents at point-blank range.
Defending team and support groups for Peltier have maintained a firm stance of his innocence, claiming that he was not responsible for the shootings, and was instead a scapegoat in a contrived trial. They claim an unfair trial set by the government was responsible for his predicament.
The documentary ‘Free Leonard Peltier’ blends in interviews, pieces of archival footage, and AI-based recreations to visually present the series of events that took place in Wounded Knee. By doing so, the film attempts to imbue Peltier’s personal plight into the wider frame of the consistent ill-treatment towards Indigenous communities in America.
Approximately two years prior to the shootout that sealed Peltier’s prison fate, Wounded Knee experienced a lengthy occupation led by hundreds of Native American activists, including AIM members. The problematic history of the region and the government’s attempts to encroach and illegally confiscate Indigenous land was the backdrop against which these protests arose.
Jesse Short Bull, a member of the Oglala Lakota Tribe in South Dakota, positioned himself as a key figure in the creation of this documentary. Having co-directed another documentary ‘Lakota Nation vs. United States’, which recorded decades of government encroachments on native land, Short Bull expressed his deep connection with Peltier’s case.
Short Bull has emphasized the influence of Peltier’s generation, who paved the path for him to gain a deeper understanding and appreciation for his Lakota roots. He credits them for the preservation of endangered beliefs and traditions. He is the grateful for the pivotal sacrifices they had to endure.
In spite of significant efforts to rectify the historical wrongdoings inflicted upon Indigenous populations by the government, Short Bull believes there are still many prevalent challenges. He argues that the issues faced by these communities haven’t vanished, but rather, persist.
Peltier, now 80 and battling health issues, was eventually released from federal prison in Central Florida on Feb. 18. The convicted activist, partially blind, has been confined to his North Dakota home to serve out the remainder of his two life sentences.
Yet, despite the home confinement, Peltier’s mission, the directors maintain, is far from fulfilled. This narrative seems to represent an attempt to build an image of a tenacious activist who is ever ready to fight for his cause, irrespective of his personal limitations.
Short Bull has commented, ‘The power for change and safety and love for our community is still at the very forefront of his mind. He’s still going, and he still wants to be active.’ Such a statement seems to reaffirm the constructed image of an indefatigable fighter.
However, the story ends with France hinting at an unquenchable fire within Peltier: ‘His fire is undiminished.’ Viewers are left grappling with a controversial clemency, a president’s hasty exit, a questionable case, and a fiery, unrelenting activist pushing on despite the odds.
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