The Buffalo Hunt seeks to show tribe in a new light

An image from the documentary shows men looking over a dead buffalo following a traditional buffalo hunt. Photo / AP

The Buffalo Hunt, a new documentary on the homeland of the Oglala Lakota, attempts to shun cliches around the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota involving poverty and addiction and focus on traditions around the Native American tribe.

Directed by Philip Di Fiore, the film lets the Lakota Sioux people speak without narration as they work to save customs passed down by the elders through the buffalo hunt — a sacred act which extends to all aspects of life.

There, in the hunt, elders share stories on how previous generations used the animal's gifts and prepared hunters for the world before them. Young members watch and participate.

The year-long project on Pine Ridge began after producer Phillip O'Leary took part in the 2016 protests at Standing Rock over the proposed Dakota Access Pipeline and concerns the local drinking water would be polluted. O'Leary wanted to dive into a documentary around the Standing Rock protests until he met Pine Ridge members, Di Fiore said. The Lakota Sioux men, like members of other Native American tribes from New Mexico to Oklahoma, had come to Standing Rock in solidarity.

"Phillip was captivated by their stories so the focus of the project changed," Di Fiore said.
Pine Ridge has been the subject of a number of documentaries centred on the reservation's extreme poverty, chronic alcoholism or drug addiction. Those films, like the 2008 The Battle for Whiteclay and the 2014 Sober Indian Dangerous Indian, regularly juxtapose the breathtaking landscape of the Great Plains with human suffering in a place where unemployment hovers around 85 per cent.

"As a white guy from New York coming into their world, I didn't want to fall into these traps," said Di Fiore, best known for shooting music videos. "So we were very careful not to insert a preachy message or stamp our views on anything. We just let the story unfold."
Eventually, Di Fiore and his crew turned their attention to traditional buffalo hunts. Di Fiore didn't seek outside experts to explain anything.

Beldine White Eyes discusses a traditional buffalo hunt on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Photo / AP

Instead, he filmed detailed shots of hunters skinning a buffalo then delivering meat to elders for stew. That became the window to larger stories about community across the sprawling reservation.

Some shots go longer than expected. An elder's nearly five-minute speech is shown in its entirety.

After one hunt, Di Fiore focuses on a one woman, who, at 75 years old, had just finished getting her college degree. She'd been sent to a boarding school as a child and had forgotten how to speak her traditional language. A young member heard her story after delivering buffalo meat to her.

Those in hunts tackled stereotypes by just being themselves, Di Fiore said. "We wanted to do our best to be respectful and take you into their world," Di Fiore said.

The documentary already has won a number of awards, including best feature documentary honours at the Prague Film Awards and Canada International Film Festival. The film is set to be released on Amazon Prime on June 21.

- AP