Cert 15
75 mins
BBFC advice: Contains strong language, drug use
It wasn't that long ago that our main interaction with what we knew as 'Red Indians' was in Westerns or the toys that they spawned.
They were the stereotypical baddies who were polished off by chisel-jaws such as John Wayne in the name of freedom.
How ill-informed we were and how superficial our understanding was.
The robbery of Native American homelands and the disenfranchisement of its people is one of the greatest scandals of the past 100 years.
And if you don't believe how they have been tossed on the scrapheap then I invite you to watch The Seventh Fire.
Jack Pettibone Riccobono's documentary focuses on Rob Brown, a Native American gang leader on a remote Minnesota reservation. He is about to go to jail for a fifth time.
But the movie catches up with him just as he is beginning to realise his own negative force on the Ojibwe community in which he has grown up.
For example, his influence over people such as a 17-year-old called Kevin whose only aspiration is to fill Rob's shoes.
Native American gangs have now precipitated a crisis from which its communities see no emergence.
This leaves frighteningly little hope for the children who are growing up within them.
The Seventh Fire is an important film and I was engrossed but, yet again, I thought that it would have benefited hugely from quality narration rather than confining itself to the fly-on-the-wall style.
Reasons to watch: highlights the plight of a forgotten people
Reasons to avoid: needs narration
Laughs: none
Jumps: none
Vomit: none
Nudity: none
Overall rating: 7/10
Star tweet
Jack Riccobono 
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