Desk Lunch
Circle of the Sun (1961)
directed by Colin Low
rating: 3 out of 5 cravats
watched online through the National Film Board of Canada
I recently read Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (twelve years after buying a copy for a class in college) and one of the first things I found on the Internet afterwards was Circle of the Sun. Dee Brown's book was published in 1970. Robert Flaherty released Louisiana Story in 1948. Low must have seen Louisiana Story, and like Louisiana Story and Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, Circle of the Sun hasn't gathered much moss.
It's short–half an hour–and very beautiful to look at. Of course, "Blood Indians" seems like an inappropriate moniker for the Kainai Nation today, and early on, Low swerves a little recklessly towards moralizing in his narration, but that's like criticizing Flaherty for his faith in Standard Oil: appropriate but ultimately inconsequential. Tom Daly's edits undercut the script whenever appropriate, and whatever Low might think about the importance of tribal heritage over motorcycles and rodeos, those teenagers on bikes alongside the rolling mountains of southern Alberta speak for themselves.
Too, Low's script is only a bookend. The rest of the narration is spoken by Pete Standing Alone, an incredible conversationalist. He worked as a roughneck on oil rigs in Texas, Nebraska, Wyoming, and North Dakota before returning home to help with cattle and ride broncs. Low films him at a rodeo, at a tribal gathering, and on a rig near the reservation. Say what you want about pillaging the planet's natural resources, but there are few natural sights more physically impressive than men wrapping chains around pistons the size of city hall.
As Standing Alone moves alongside a friend alongside a herd, we hear him complement his buddy's cowboy techniques. "Not much fancy stuff with the rope," he says. "Dan doesn't like to run the fat out of his stock." That's a great line, and one of many details, like sweetgrass burning over a single coal beside a fire, or the stitching on a pair of boots worn by a man at the rodeo, that Low is good about leaving alone.
directed by Colin Low
rating: 3 out of 5 cravats
watched online through the National Film Board of Canada
I recently read Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (twelve years after buying a copy for a class in college) and one of the first things I found on the Internet afterwards was Circle of the Sun. Dee Brown's book was published in 1970. Robert Flaherty released Louisiana Story in 1948. Low must have seen Louisiana Story, and like Louisiana Story and Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, Circle of the Sun hasn't gathered much moss.
It's short–half an hour–and very beautiful to look at. Of course, "Blood Indians" seems like an inappropriate moniker for the Kainai Nation today, and early on, Low swerves a little recklessly towards moralizing in his narration, but that's like criticizing Flaherty for his faith in Standard Oil: appropriate but ultimately inconsequential. Tom Daly's edits undercut the script whenever appropriate, and whatever Low might think about the importance of tribal heritage over motorcycles and rodeos, those teenagers on bikes alongside the rolling mountains of southern Alberta speak for themselves.
Too, Low's script is only a bookend. The rest of the narration is spoken by Pete Standing Alone, an incredible conversationalist. He worked as a roughneck on oil rigs in Texas, Nebraska, Wyoming, and North Dakota before returning home to help with cattle and ride broncs. Low films him at a rodeo, at a tribal gathering, and on a rig near the reservation. Say what you want about pillaging the planet's natural resources, but there are few natural sights more physically impressive than men wrapping chains around pistons the size of city hall.
As Standing Alone moves alongside a friend alongside a herd, we hear him complement his buddy's cowboy techniques. "Not much fancy stuff with the rope," he says. "Dan doesn't like to run the fat out of his stock." That's a great line, and one of many details, like sweetgrass burning over a single coal beside a fire, or the stitching on a pair of boots worn by a man at the rodeo, that Low is good about leaving alone.
posted by NPK at 4:34 PM
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