Growing up in the Midwest, we are raised with constant reminders that the land we are living on used to belong to the Indigenous people of the area. From city names and places with mostly anglicized versions of Native names for spaces, and even being raised with probably adapted versions of folklore that better fit the culture of the area we were raised in. But it wasn’t until the last few years that we started to see more of a large media attention on the crimes and broken promises made to the Native American populations in our areas.
Social media (especially TikTok) has seen a rise in educating more people about MMIW (Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women). The news has finally started picking up stories about the Boarding Schools and the mass graves of children who were tortured, tested on, and murdered there. Even movies like Killers of the Flower Moon put the fight for land rights and crimes against the Osage Nation on the big screen. It’s nice to see that the blinders are slowly coming off, and the mistreatment of the Indigenous populations.
And this year, Bad River is adding to the conversation. Focusing on the battle of the Bad River Nation for their land rights and protecting their waterways from the big oil companies, the documentary covers that and so much more. While it focuses on the fight with Enbridge Energy and an oil pipeline that goes right through the Sovern land, it doesn’t shy away from talking about the other issues the tribe has dealt with over the years.
With interviews from tribe elders, to the younger generation of the Bad River Band, the documentary discusses the impacts of land allotment and broken promises from the government has done to generations of their people. How boarding schools and city relocation lead to the loss of the connection to their culture often with dire results. The movie talks about how different protests, like the one held on Alcatraz, and locally were met with racism and violence. How each step they have taken to try to assert their rights is met negatively and what it can do to their tribe and culture overall.
The continued education and discourse around the rights to Indigenous lands and how they’ve been misused and abused over the years is what makes movies like Bad River so important. It’s not just from one perspective, but from the voices and stories of multiple generations. It doesn’t just focus on the present but tells the tale of the past and other crimes that have happened to the Bad River Band and other local native tribes. It brings the history that we are barely taught to the forefront and shows how recent these crimes were, and the modern-day ramifications that are still present. But most of all, it shows what effect the past has on not only the future of the tribe members but all of the people in the surrounding areas if the worst should happen and Lake Superior was contaminated.
Bad River is eye-opening, even if you feel like you are versed in the current plights of Indigenous people. It shows there’s so much more that needs to happen to right the wrongs of the past. Bad River is currently streaming on Xfinity and on November 1, 2024, the film will debut on PEACOCK, kicking off Native American Heritage Month.
Overall Rating
About Bad River
BAD RIVER, narrated by Quannah ChasingHorse and Academy-Award nominee, Edward Norton; written and directed by award-winning filmmaker, Mary Mazzio; and produced by Grant Hill (Owner of the Atlanta Hawks) and Allison Abner (writer for Narcos, West Wing and descendant of the Stockbridge Munsee Band), is a new documentary film which chronicles the Wisconsin-based Bad River Band and its ongoing fight for sovereignty, a story which unfolds in a groundbreaking way through a series of shocking revelations, devastating losses, and a powerful legacy of defiance and resilience which includes a David vs. Goliath battle to save Lake Superior, the largest freshwater resource in America. As Eldred Corbine, a Bad River Tribal Elder declares: “We gotta protect it… die for it, if we have to.”
Called “a powerful chronicle” by Bill McKibben (writer for The New Yorker), profoundly moving” by film critic Liz Braun, “a 10 out of 10” by film critic Vincent Schilling, and “brilliant” by David Corn of Mother Jones, BAD RIVER has already had remarkable impact, launched with a theatrical run in 25 major markets across the country lasting about two months (nearly unheard of for an independent documentary film). “We haven’t seen lines out the door like this since Barbie,” said the manager of the Ashland Bay Cinema in Wisconsin, who also reported that BAD RIVER outperformed Dune, Kung Fu Panda, Ghostbusters and Godzilla on successive weekends. People also made great effort to see the film on the big screen, flying to nearby states where the film was showing, and driving upwards of 6 hours to the closest movie theater, all of which speak to the power of this project. Leonardo DiCaprio posted the film’s trailer, as did Edward Norton, Mark Ruffalo, Jason Momoa, and Channing Tatum.
The film is executive produced by Mato Wayuhi (Reservation Dogs), Taylor Hensel (Reservation Dogs, Reciprocity Project), Victor Lopez-Carmen (former co-chair of the UN’s Indigenous Youth Caucus), Tracy Rector (Reciprocity Project), and Alec Sokolow (Toy Story), along with Arthur M. Blank, Tamia Hill, MC McCall, Bill Hudson, Bryan White, Chris White, Bill McNabb, Katie McNabb, Bruce Herring, Tricia Herring, Sue Wagner, and Jay Ruderman.
The film is currently streaming on Xfinity and on November 1, 2024, the film will debut on PEACOCK.