Identity in the Film Thuderheart

“We know what we are, but not what we may be.” A quote from William Shakespeare discusses the trait of identity. Identity applies to the film as it is a part of different characters and groups throughout the film. A majority of Americans have always been stereotyping Native Americans and the film Thunderheart, stereotyping takes place towards Native Americans. The film was released in 1992 and is about an American FBI agent with an Indian background, Ray Levoi. He goes to a reservation with his partner, Frank Coutelle, to investigate a murder. At first, Ray disregards the Natives but by the end of the film, he embraces his heritage and considers himself a Native American rather than an uptight, FBI agent. In the scene at Red Deer Table, the FBI’s and Ray’s true identities are revealed as the Natives are taken advantage of.
In this scene, Ray and Crow Horse go to a place on the reservation during the night and discover pools of liquid after Ray nearly fell into one. Ray questions what it is and then Crow Horse throws a rock that he picked up into one of the pools and concludes that it test drilling for uranium. Crow Horse then sticks a knife into a hole and discovers sealant and then comments about how the Natives have been voting against the mining on the reservation. Crow Horse mentions that Jack Milton has tried to own the lands and keeps getting kickbacks from the leases. The mining is the reason for why the water has been contaminated. They both conclude that the murder was set up and pinned on Jimmy just so the mining could be done. Crow Horse tells Ray that “his people”, referring to the Americans, did this. Ray replies saying “they’re not my people”, and this means that he considers the Native Americans. In th...

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...ied that he was a Native American, rather than a corrupt, FBI agent that Crow Horse referred to him as. The FBI were shown as being self-centered because they killed Maggie and dumped her body at Red Deer Table leaving it to be discovered by Ray and Crow Horse. The FBI did whatever was needed in order to keep their drilling for uranium project a secret. The emotion that Ray had when he had discovered Maggie helped to show that he was considered himself a Native American and the director did a good job showing it. Also, the director brought ideas to the scene including that the Natives were being stereotyped by other groups and that they were always taken advantage of, like in this film. Identity was an important aspect of this film of Ray and the FBI and it applies to everybody in the world because it is a trait that everyone has and needs to embrace, like Ray.