MovieChat Forums > True Heart (1999) Discussion > Racist/Ignorant Portrayal of a Native Ca...

Racist/Ignorant Portrayal of a Native Canadian

posted 15 years ago by backofthevan
3 replies | jump to latest

I just attempted to watch this thing on television. I guess nobody bothered to tell the writer/director that Canadian First Nations people actually speak English fluently.

August Schellenberg's character is an offensive caricature of the old American western image of the "red Indian" who speaks in "how's" and broken English. Our aboriginal people don't run around in the woods in buckskins anymore with bows and arrows.

Absolutely ludicrous, ignorant and offensive portrayal.

[–] MadTom 14 years ago

I guess nobody bothered to tell the writer/director that Canadian First Nations people actually speak English fluently.

They should have figured that out from the way August Schellenberg speaks in real life. And why did Schellenberg accept the role the way it was written, without saying anything in the first place?

[–] tallard 11 years ago

Agreed. This story could have been filmed in the B&W days, terrible!

***So I've seen 4 movies/wk in theatre for a 1/4 century, call me crazy?**

[–] suprlite 8 years ago

Yes, lets all jump on the "im so offended" and "this is racist" -bandwagons...
-Because the world is in desperate need of more idiots...