Content area
Full Text
Contrary Warrior - The Life and Times of Adam Fortunate Eagle: An Odyssey of a Contemporary Leader, Activist, Artist and Author. A Film by John Ferry. A LilliMar Pictures D VD Release (www.lillimar.com). Documentary - 82 minutes.
Admittedly, I don't think I had ever heard of Adam Fortunate Eagle, even by his former name of Adam Norwall but I certainly do remember the takeover of Alcatraz in 1969. It is Mr. Fortunate Eagle who was a major player in that event and whose most interesting personal biography this DVD portrays.
The film maker presents Mr. Fortunate Eagle telling his fascinating life story, inter-mixing his words with family as well as historical photos.
He was born on the Chippewa Reservation in Red Lake, MN in 1929. His father was Swedish working near the reservation and married Adam's mother who was Chippewa. When his father died a few years later, Adam and his siblings were sent off to the Pipestone Indian Training School.
It was here he realized about cultural awareness and says in the movie, "I'm an American Indian!" After the government policy changed in 1935, the boarding school children were allowed to speak their native languages and, he says, it was "okay to be Indian." He cautions that the only language they weren't allowed to speak was "profanity."
But, that didn't prevent Indian children from hurling insults at each other. For instance, he relates, the Sioux boys would call the Chippewa boys, "Rabbit Chokers" and in turn the Chippewa lads would called the Sioux, "Dog Eaters."
One of the things that captured his interest was the library where he found a whole selection of books on Indians. He was thrilled to have Indian books and he read them over and over. He began his interest in...