Natives

This hour long documentary is a portrait of LaVan Martineau, a sixty one year old Paiute Indian, who looks European and calls himself “Red Apple Inside Out (1)”. By that name, he means that behind his intense blue eyes there is a true Indian heart. As the story unfolds the question of identity becomes the main topic of the film as more and more people today want to identify with their Indian ancestry.
Raised by a Paiute tribe after his father’s death, LaVan develops a strong respect for his family of adoption and dedicates his whole life to preserving their culture. Totally autodidact and on his own modest finances, he spends forty years of his life gathering over 20,000 photos and sketches of the Indian petroglyphs (2) in North America and writes several books deciphering them. Married twice to full-blood Indians, he raised his five daughters in the Paiute tradition. We see the whole family in their journey all across America going from one reservation to another. They meet other tribes, tirelessly folding and unfolding their huge tepee, gathering precious information from the tribe elders, and carefully recording all the elements that define and identify the Indian tribes.
We accompany LaVan and his daughters on what will become his last powwow (3) circuit, alternating the intimacy and the quiet rhythm of the traveling with the excitement and impressive activity of the powwow. As the viewers share LaVan’s life story, we witness moments with members of his family and with his  extended Indian family, the other powwow participants. The story reveals several conflicts and paradoxes around an important question: the question of “Indianness”. (The word Indians use to describe their cultural heritage). Today the federal government recognizes that to be Indian, one needs to prove only a quarter Indian ancestry and sometimes less. Tribes are mixed extensively between each other but also with European and African descendants. More and more people identify and claim their Indian ancestry today.
As the viewer is transported into the intricate world of Indianness, we see that Indians, or Natives as the new generation likes to be called, still have many battles to fight to preserve their fragile identity and survive. LaVan takes an active part in the battle. He and his daughters have become familiar figures on the powwow grounds, encouraging others to cultivate and preserve their precious heritage. He represents the struggle of today’s generation being at once a precursor and a guardian of tradition, all of which is embodied in his life’s work and message.
The film “Red Apple Inside Out  “ communicates a new definition of Indianness and explains that belonging is not merely a question of blood or outward appearance but rather one of upbringing, culture, and most of all, of the heart.

 

(1) Red Apple : nickname given in indian reservations to native american who have lost their native culture : like an apple, they are considered being “red” only on the outside and “white” on the inside.

(2) Petroglyphs : Ancient Indian drawings on rocks, telling war stories.

(3) Powwow : Every summer in North America powwows gather Indians from many different clans and tribes. Over three days they face each other in spectacular song and dance contests led by the heartbeat of the drum. These meetings are the modern interpretation of traditional, social and religious ceremonies. For about forty years powwow trails have appeared on the map of the American nation, followed every year by a growing number of contestants dressed in ever more elaborate and colorful costumes.