Divided
Loyalties
Hurrah! A film in which we can cheer the
good guys with impunity! That's because this is a Canadian TV movie
about Thayendanegea Joseph Brant of the Mohawk Nation! Yes - a
celebration of the Loyalists of the First Nations!
This is a most enjoyable film,
especially the depiction of life around Johnson Hall - which
idyllically - but not inaccurately - shows the co-operative
relationships developed by Sir William between Mohawks and white
settlers, including the Highland Catholics from Glengarry. (A wedding
scene shows kilted Highlanders, Mohawks and other whites dancing
reels together!)
The weak spots are in that Thayendanegea
is depicted as making his journey to London alone - in reality he was
with one of the Johnsons, but I can see the dramatic reasons for this
- and also in the handling of the Cherry Valley massacre. The film
implies it's Walter Butler's fault, and suggests a larger scale of
destruction than occurred. In reality, 31-2 non-combatants were
killed in only 7 houses (out of 40 houses in the whole village),
which suggests that it was the result of a small number of warriors
getting out of hand, rather than a deliberate order by either Butler
or Thayendanegea. This possibly weakens the full impact of the film's
depiction of the vastly disproportionate Rebel response -
Washington's order to Sullivan to launch a campaign of mass
destruction against the Iroquois, in which over 40 Indian towns (one
of over 100 houses) and crops were destroyed.
There are some fine performances by First
Nations actors: Tantoo Cardinal's portrayal of Molly Brant is
particularly impressive. Her importance as a matriarch among the
Mohawks and as a facilitator of dialogue with the whites through her
marriage to Sir William is brought out very effectively - also the
racist responses to this which dismiss her as a 'mistress' under
white law.
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