Highest-Rated Movies about 'Native People', Sort by Popularity

Pathfinder (1987), The Searchers (1956), Keep the River on Your Right: A Modern Cannibal Tale (2000), Nanook of the North (1922), Crude (2009), Whale Rider (2002), Atanarjuat the Fast Runner (2001), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) ... Let's take a look at the ranked list of the best Native People movies.

#1. Pathfinder (1987)

Storyline: In medieval Finland, the Sami -- a tribe of peaceful hunter-gatherers -- struggle to survive in a frozen wasteland. Aigin (Mikkel Gaup), a young Sami, watches in horror as his parents and sister are brutally murdered in a surprise attack by the Tchudes, a rival tribe of violent nomads. Though Aigin flees to safety, the Tchudes follow his tracks to another encampment. Abducted and forced to comply with Tchude demands, Aigin feigns weakness -- while secretly planning his own shocking revenge.

Plot Keywords: teenager, mother, father, warrior, tribal leader, villager, thrilling ...

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#2. The Searchers (1956)

Storyline: After a long three-year absence, the battle-scarred Confederate veteran of the American Civil War, Ethan Edwards, turns up on the remote and dusty Texan homestead of his brother, Aaron. In high hopes of finding peace, instead, the taciturn former soldier will embark on a treacherous five-year odyssey of retribution, when the ruthless Chief Scar's murderous Comanche raiding party massacre his family, burn the ranch to the ground and abduct his nine-year-old niece, Debbie. Driven by hatred of Indians, Ethan and his young companion, Martin Pawley, ride through the unforgiving desert to track down their lost Debbie; however, is the woman they lost and the prisoner in Scar's teepee still the same woman the searchers seek?

Plot Keywords: gunslinger, uncle, niece, brother, native american, powerful, engaging ...

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#3. Keep the River on Your Right: A Modern Cannibal Tale (2000)

Storyline: This documentary tells the tale of Tobias Schneebaum, a gay Jewish New York painter who traveled to New Guinea and Peru in 1955, soon eschewing his western ways, living as a cannibal and tribesman. The camera follows Schneebaum at age 78, as he returns to the jungle.

Plot Keywords: painter, homosexual, cannibal, tribesman, documentarian, lover, engaging ...

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#4. Nanook of the North (1922)

Storyline: Documents one year in the life of Nanook, an Eskimo (Inuit), and his family. Describes the trading, hunting, fishing and migrations of a group barely touched by industrial technology. Nanook of the North was widely shown and praised as the first full-length, anthropological documentary in cinematographic history.—<xaviermartin@hotmail.com>

Plot Keywords: inuit, father, mother, baby, spirited, striking, arctic ...

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#5. Crude (2009)

Storyline: One of the largest and most controversial legal cases on the planet. An inside look at the infamous $27 billion "Amazon Chernobyl" case, CRUDE is a real-life high stakes legal drama set against a backdrop of the environmental movement, global politics, celebrity activism, human rights advocacy, the media, multinational corporate power, and rapidly-disappearing indigenous cultures. Presenting a complex situation from multiple viewpoints, the film examines a complicated situation from several angles while bringing a story of environmental peril and human suffering into focus.—Crude Production

Plot Keywords: native, activist, executive, environmentalist, filmmaker, bleak, emotional ...

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#6. Whale Rider (2002)

Storyline: On the east coast of New Zealand, the Whangara people believe their presence there dates back a thousand years or more to a single ancestor, Paikea, who escaped death when his canoe capsized by riding to shore on the back of a whale. From then on, Whangara chiefs, always the first-born, always male, have been considered Paikea's direct descendants. Pai, an 11-year-old girl in a patriarchal New Zealand tribe, believes she is destined to be the new chief. But her grandfather Koro is bound by tradition to pick a male leader. Pai loves Koro more than anyone in the world, but she must fight him and a thousand years of tradition to fulfill her destiny.

Plot Keywords: girl, chief, uncle, grandmother, grandfather, touching, inspiring ...

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#7. Atanarjuat the Fast Runner (2001)

Storyline: Centuries ago, in what would become the Canadian Arctic, Atuat is promised to the malevolent Oki, son of the leader of their tribe. But Atuat loves the good-natured Atanarjuat, who ultimately finds a way to marry her. Oki's sister, Puja also fancies Atanarjuat, and when she causes strife between him and his brother Amaqjuaq, Oki seizes the opportunity to wreak a terrible revenge on Atanarjuat.—Shannon Patrick Sullivan <shannon@mun.ca>

Plot Keywords: brother, wife, tribal leader, shaman, gritty, emotional, canada ...

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#8. She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949)

Storyline: After Custer and the 7th Cavalry are wiped out by Indians, everyone expects the worst. Capt. Nathan Brittles is ordered out on patrol but he's also required to take along Abby Allshard, wife of the Fort's commanding officer, and her niece, the pretty Olivia Dandridge, who are being evacuated for their own safety. Brittles is only a few days away from retirement and Olivia has caught the eye of two of the young officers in the Company, Lt. Flint Cohill and 2nd Lt. Ross Pennell. She's taken to wearing a yellow ribbon in her hair, a sign that she has a beau in the Cavalry, but refuses to say for whom she is wearing it.

Plot Keywords: captain, lieutenant, leader, wife, native american, rousing, engaging ...

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#9. How the West Was Won (1962)

Storyline: Setting off on a journey to the west in the 1830s, the Prescott family run into a man named Linus, who helps them fight off a pack of thieves. Linus then marries daughter Eve Prescott (Carroll Baker), and 30 years later goes off to fight in the Civil War with their son, with bloody results. Eve's sister, Lily, heads farther west and has adventures with a professional gambler, stretching all the way to San Francisco and into the 1880s.

Plot Keywords: gambler, fur trapper, singer, frontiersman, captain, lieutenant, striking ...

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#10. Where the Spirit Lives (1989)

Storyline: In 1937, a young First Nations (Canadian native) girl named Ashtecome is kidnapped along with several other children from a village as part of a deliberate Canadian policy to force First Nations children to abandon their culture in order to be assimilated into white Canadian/British society. She is taken to a boarding school where she is forced to adopt Western Euro-centric ways and learn English, often under brutal treatment. Only one sympathetic white teacher who is more and more repelled by this bigotry offers her any help from among the staff. That, with her force of will, Ashtecome (forced to take the name Amelia) is determined to hold on to her identity and that of her siblings, who were also abducted.—Kenneth Chisholm <kchishol@execulink.com>

Plot Keywords: young girl, native, teacher, mother, grandmother, priest, melodramatic ...

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#11. The Emerald Forest (1985)

Storyline: Based on a true story, Powers Boothe plays an American dam engineer in Brazil. Boothe's son (played by Charlie Boorman - son of director John Boorman) is kidnapped by a rain forest tribe, and raised as one of their own. Boothe continues to look for him and after many trials and adventures, stumbles upon him.—A. Felhofer <valmytrailslodge@itol.com>

Plot Keywords: father, son, tribal leader, wife, daughter, engineer, striking ...

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#12. The Plainsman (1936)

Storyline: With the end of the North American Civil War, the manufacturers of repeating rifles find a profitable means of making money selling the weapons to the North American Indians, using the front man John Lattimer to sell the rifles to the Cheyenne. While traveling in a stagecoach with Calamity Jane and William "Buffalo Bill" Cody and his young wife Louisa Cody that want to settle down in Hays City managing a hotel, Wild Bill Hickok finds the guide Breezy wounded by arrows and telling that the Indians are attacking a fort using repeating rifles. Hickok meets Gen. George A. Custer that assigns Buffalo Bill to guide a troop with ammunition to help the fort. Meanwhile the Cheyenne kidnap Calamity Jane, forcing Hickok to expose himself to rescue her.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Plot Keywords: military officer, cowboy, indian, buffalo bill, tense, thrilling, american west ...

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#13. Hawaii (1966)

Storyline: Reverend Abner Hale (Max Von Sydow), a rigid and humorless New England missionary, marries the beautiful Jerusha Bromley (Dame Julie Andrews) and takes her to the exotic island kingdom of Hawaii, intent on converting the natives. But the clash between the two cultures is too great and instead of understanding, there comes tragedy.—Jim Beaver <jumblejim@prodigy.net>

Plot Keywords: minister, wife, native, ex-lover, sailor, emotional, gripping ...

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#14. Distant Drums (1951)

Storyline: Navy Lieutenant Tufts accompanies scout Quincy Wyatt into the Everglades to rout the Seminole Indians who are threatening the early settlers in Florida. When the command is forced to run, Wyatt and Seminole Chief Oscala square off in an exciting climax.—Buxx Banner <buxx572@aol.com>

Plot Keywords: american soldier, native american, native american chief, settler, enemy, lieutenant, brooding ...

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#15. Something of Value (1957)

Storyline: Although Peter and Kimani grew up together, Kimani soon finds that different races are treated differently. After Kimani's father is jailed for following tribal customs, Kimani joins a band of rebels that wants all non-Kenyans out of their country. While Kimani believes in the cause, he does not agree with the indiscriminate killing of women, children, and those who will not join or agree with them. Even after the Mau Mau murder his little sister and brother, Peter still believes that there is a chance for peaceful co-existence and that he can stop most of the killing if he can reason with Kimani.—Tony Fontana <tony.fontana@spacebbs.com>

Plot Keywords: settler, wife, witch doctor, tribal leader, revolutionary, powerful, suspenseful ...

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