First of all, I'd like to make a shout out to IMDb: The main characters of this movie are 1.) Graham Greene 2.)Ron Lea 3.) Floyd Red Crow Westerman and bringing up the rear, Michael Hogan. (Please edit the movie's page accordingly). This was an excellent and unforgettable movie, especially to those of us who appreciate and respect the soul of Mother Earth. Graham Greene provides the character of the Earthly guide we would all like to meet.., and then become. The spiritual instruction I got from this movie was great: Find your power. Embrace your earthly existence (including death). Respect life. Two profound moments stick out for me in Clearcut: One is when the three men, Greene, Lea and Hogan, are deep in the northern wilderness, at night, as wolves howl. Greene (Arthur) turns to Hogan (who is playing the part of an abducted, callous, arrogant lumber mill owner) and says, "Those are your trees. They are wailing." Arthur's love for the land is obvious, and has accepted his role as warrior. Something we can all learn from.
The other moment that stands out for me is when Arthur is trying to explain "oral tradition" to timid lawyer played by Ron Lea. He takes a small snake out of a bag and assertively bites its head off. "That's oral tradition". he says.
The immediacy and vitality of the Native American oral tradition is expressed therein, without words. I could not give this movie a 9 rating because of the receding, reluctant, stubborn and stunted character of Peter Maguire, played by Ron Lea: What could have been a powerful statement for individual bravery, transformation, expansion and catharsis became, instead more of a debate of cultures.
The sweat lodge ceremony should have been the awakening of Maguire's personal soul power. Unfortunately, all he got from it were a few unrelated, nebulous images that flashed through his head a couple of times in the movie, usually of some substance (blood?) dripping on a rock.
It's pretty obvious that the movie's producer did not want Clearcut to be an unabashed statement for environmental preservation and activism, the way a couple of Steven Segal's films were. Even the title, "Clearcut" says to me that they wanted to frame the movie in non-Native American terms.
Honestly, I have not heard so much whining from one character since Lorraine Bracco's character in Medicine Man. If I had been Arthur, I would have killed Maguire first, just to get him to shut up.
None of this, not even the brazen, disrespectful lines given to Bud Rickets (the lumber mill owner), or the fact that they wrote him to survive the ordeal, takes anything away from the stunningly-powerful and eminently-valuable performance by Graham Greene, though.
If you are somewhat feeling powerless and want to do something different with your life, to break free of how you see and do things, watch this movie. Greene and Red Crow will not disappoint.
The other moment that stands out for me is when Arthur is trying to explain "oral tradition" to timid lawyer played by Ron Lea. He takes a small snake out of a bag and assertively bites its head off. "That's oral tradition". he says.
The immediacy and vitality of the Native American oral tradition is expressed therein, without words. I could not give this movie a 9 rating because of the receding, reluctant, stubborn and stunted character of Peter Maguire, played by Ron Lea: What could have been a powerful statement for individual bravery, transformation, expansion and catharsis became, instead more of a debate of cultures.
The sweat lodge ceremony should have been the awakening of Maguire's personal soul power. Unfortunately, all he got from it were a few unrelated, nebulous images that flashed through his head a couple of times in the movie, usually of some substance (blood?) dripping on a rock.
It's pretty obvious that the movie's producer did not want Clearcut to be an unabashed statement for environmental preservation and activism, the way a couple of Steven Segal's films were. Even the title, "Clearcut" says to me that they wanted to frame the movie in non-Native American terms.
Honestly, I have not heard so much whining from one character since Lorraine Bracco's character in Medicine Man. If I had been Arthur, I would have killed Maguire first, just to get him to shut up.
None of this, not even the brazen, disrespectful lines given to Bud Rickets (the lumber mill owner), or the fact that they wrote him to survive the ordeal, takes anything away from the stunningly-powerful and eminently-valuable performance by Graham Greene, though.
If you are somewhat feeling powerless and want to do something different with your life, to break free of how you see and do things, watch this movie. Greene and Red Crow will not disappoint.