Highest-Rated Movies about 'Indian Reservation', Sort by Popularity

The White Stripes Under Great White Northern Lights (2009), Wind River (2017), Dance Me Outside (1994), Smoke Signals (1998), Skins (2002), The Vanishing American (1925), Thunderheart (1992), The River's Edge (1957) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Indian Reservation movies.

#1. The White Stripes Under Great White Northern Lights (2009)

Storyline: Music video director Emmett Malloy shadows guitarist and singer Jack White and drummer Meg White on their 2007 Canadian tour. Alongside traditional concerts, the film shows the duo performing in unusual spaces like a Winnipeg city bus, an Ontario flour mill and a gathering of Native American tribal elders. Also included are intimate backstage moments between Jack and Meg, a formerly married couple whose time as a band was nearing its end during this tour, which proved to be their last.

Plot Keywords: musician, guitarist, drummer, rock star, native american, music lover, creative ...

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#2. Wind River (2017)

Storyline: East of Boulder Flats, deep into the vast and unforgiving white territory of the Wind River Indian Reservation, the seasoned game tracker, Cory Lambert, discovers the frozen body of the young Native American, Natalie. As this is a federal crime, the F.B.I. dispatches the inexperienced but courageous agent Jane Banner to lead the investigation, however, the unprepared outsider will soon team up with Cory to unravel the mystery of Natalie's murder. Before long, Cory will inevitably have to face his own past, while at the same time, both he and Jane are thirsting to see justice done. In the end, will this be a fruitful alliance?

Plot Keywords: fbi agent, police officer, native american, animal-control officer, victim, hunter, gripping ...

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#4. Smoke Signals (1998)

Storyline: Young Native American man Thomas is a nerd in his reservation, wearing oversize glasses and telling everyone stories no-one wants to hear. His parents died in a fire in 1976, and Thomas was saved by Arnold. Arnold soon left his family (and his tough son Victor), and Victor hasn't seen his father for 10 years. When Victor hears Arnold has died, Thomas offers him funding for the trip to get Arnold's remains, but only if Thomas can also go with him. Thomas and Victor hit the road.

Plot Keywords: native american, basketball player, abusive husband, mother, charming, calm, indian reservation ...

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#5. Skins (2002)

Storyline: Rudy Yellow Lodge is an investigator with the police department and witnesses firsthand the painful legacy of Indian existence. Although rampant unemployment, alcoholism and domestic violence are the norm for many reservation inhabitants, Rudy has largely escaped this cycle of despair. His brother Mogie, however, has not. Now faced with the discovery of a bloodied body, a flaming liquor store just off native land that sells millions of cans of beer a year to the native population, and his brother's ongoing self-destruction, Rudy goes on a quest to avenge himself, his family, and his culture and to seek justice.—Sujit R. Varma

Plot Keywords: vigilante, cop, brother, criminal, aunt, son, dark ...

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#6. The Vanishing American (1925)

Storyline: History, as portrayed in this film, has been a succession of conquests of stronger races over weaker ones. As played out on the stage of Monument Valley, long ago, tribes of Indians defeated the ancient cliff dwellers; then came the Europeans to conquer the Indians. Now, in the early 20th Century, a tribe of Navajo live on a reservation overseen by an Indian-hating agent, Booker. He and his men steal the best Indian horses for their own profit. Nophaie, a tribal leader, complains to Booker's higher-ups, but he is unable to gain fair treatment from the whites. When World War I breaks out, an Army captain comes west in search of the horses that Booker was supposed to have bought from the Indians for a fair price. Marian Warner, the teacher at the Indian School, has befriended Nophaie, teaching him to read; she convinces him that the Great War is a fight for a more just world, and that, when that world comes, the Indian will be better treated. Nophaie not only brings horses for the Army, he and many other Indians enlist, and distinguish themselves in battle. But when they come back after the war is over, they find life for Indians even worse than when they left. Surely, they feel, it is time to fight back. But Nophaie is not so sure.—George S. Davis <mgeorges@prodigy.net>

Plot Keywords: tribal leader, government official, schoolteacher, agent, soldier, officer, melodramatic ...

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#7. Thunderheart (1992)

Storyline: An FBI man with Sioux background is sent to a reservation to help with a murder investigation, where he has to come to terms with his heritage. Slowly he rejects the intimidating tactics of his fellow FBI agents, who are not so interested in solving the crime as covering up an incriminating situation with the locals, and as he becomes more tuned to his heritage, the locals begin trusting him. Based on actual Reservation occurrences of the '70s.

Plot Keywords: fbi agent, native american, schoolteacher, tribal leader, police officer, activist, suspenseful ...

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#8. The River's Edge (1957)

Storyline: A Sheriff goes into Mexico in search of a man wanted back in the States. Finding him, he starts back. But it's a long way back, he has a reluctant captive, and there are unfriendly Indians along the way. The Sheriff admits his life has been a failure but this mission he plans to accomplish.—Maurice VanAuken <mvanauken@a1access.net>

Plot Keywords: husband, wife, criminal, police officer, ex-convict, offbeat, sultry ...

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#9. The Outsider (1961)

Storyline: This biopic tells the story of Ira Hayes (Tony Curtis), a Pima Native American who helped lift the American flag over Iwo Jima, Japan. After enlisting in the Marines, Hayes suffers prejudice among his fellow soldiers but finds a friend in Jim Sorenson (James Franciscus). Both are immortalized in the famous World War II photo, but Sorenson is killed shortly after it is taken. When he returns to America, Hayes is greeted as a hero but suffers from survivor's guilt that drives him to alcoholism.

Plot Keywords: native american, marine, alcoholic, friend, soldier, emotional, somber ...

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#10. Monkey Beach (2020)

Storyline: Monkey Beach is a supernatural mystery. Layering tragedy, humor and redemption, it tells the story of Lisa, a rebellious young woman who must accept her true heroic nature in order to save Jimmy, her brother who is lost at sea. Monkey Beach is set in the magnificent forests and waterways of the Pacific Northwest and the Haisla village of Kitamaat. Haisla cultural stories are woven into the contemporary lives of Lisa and her family, along with a cast of otherworldly characters including ghosts and Sasquatches - the 'monkeys' of Monkey Beach.

Plot Keywords: native american, tomboy, confident, engaging, emotional, intricate, british columbia ...

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#12. Pony Soldier (1952)

Storyline: In 1876, Duncan MacDonald joins the new, 300-member Mounted Police in western Canada, just in time for a dangerous mission. It seems the Cree Indians, raiding across the border in Montana, took two hostages for their safe return to Canada. But MacDonald, with only scout Natayo to help, will need all his diplomacy and then some to extract the captives from the midst of a thousand Cree.—Rod Crawford <puffinus@u.washington.edu>

Plot Keywords: mountie, native american, escaped convict, soldier, guide, hostage, tense ...

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#13. Geronimo (1962)

Storyline: An Apache warrior who defies U.S. attempts to bring the Indians under control grapples with an array of U.S. soldiers sent to subdue his revolt. Sympathetic scouts seek to bring Geronimo back to the reservation before he is hunted down.—Keith Loh <loh@sfu.ca>

Plot Keywords: native american, schoolteacher, warrior, cavalry captain, indian agent, emotional, engaging ...

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#14. Taza, Son of Cochise (1954)

Storyline: Three years after the end of the Apache wars, peacemaking chief Cochise dies. His elder son Taza shares his ideas, but brother Naiche yearns for war...and for Taza's betrothed, Oona. Naiche loses no time in starting trouble which, thanks to a bigoted cavalry officer, ends with the proud Chiricahua Apaches on a reservation, where they are soon joined by the captured renegade Geronimo, who is all it takes to light the firecracker's fuse...—Rod Crawford <puffinus@u.washington.edu>

Plot Keywords: chief, brother, geronimo, military officer, cavalryman, beautiful woman, melodramatic ...

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#15. Sioux City (1994)

Storyline: A young Lakota Sioux, adopted by a wealthy Jewish couple in Beverly Hills, gets in touch with his cultural roots and solves a mystery in this thriller. Because of his upbringing, Jesse Rainfeather Goldman knows almost nothing of Native American traditions. He is doing his internship when he suddenly receives an amulet from the Lakota reservation in Sioux City. It is from his real mother. Jesse's curiosity is piqued, and he immediately travels to his birthplace to learn why she sent it. Unfortunately, by the time he arrives, his mother's body is discovered in the smoldering wreckage of her home. She was shot before she was burned. Jesse's investigation into her death is not welcomed by the local captain of police and his assistant. He is almost beaten to death but is saved by his grandfather, a shaman, and a Lakota woman. The newly healed Jesse begins to explore his tribe's customs. He then contacts his mother's spirit and she leads him to the film's conclusion.—Echo Bridge Home Entertainment

Plot Keywords: native american, doctor, mother, police officer, grandfather, friend, dark ...

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