Incident at Oglala - The Leonard Peltier Story

Studio: Lions Gate Home Ent. Release Date: 04/20/2004 Run time: 90 minutes Rating: Pg

Robert Redford is the executive producer (and narrator) of this fine, eye-opening documentary about the violent events that took place in 1975 on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. Indian activists ended up in an extended standoff with FBI agents, and the result was several deaths, including two federal men whose killing (according to many people) was never clearly attributed to a specific gunman. Nevertheless, the government laid blame for the tragedy on Leonard Peltier, a Sioux political leader who has long been a focus for supporters believing he took the fall, possibly heroically, for others. Peltier has spent many years in prison, and Apted's film, which is hardly ambiguous in its commitment toward Peltier's hoped-for freedom, is persuasive in both its detail and its case against brutal federal policies toward Indians. Whatever one's position on the Peltier question, this is a compelling piece of work. I--Tom Keogh/I