| The Sons of Great Bear | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Josef Mach |
| Screenplay by | Liselotte Welskopf-Henrich |
The Sons of Great Bear (German: Die Söhne der großen Bärin) is a German language Red Western of 1966, directed by Josef Mach. The main characters are based on the books of Liselotte Welskopf-Henrich with the same name, which have been very successful, especially in East Germany. The name is sometimes liberally translated as The Sons of the Great Mother Bear to emphasise the feminine noun.
Contents |
It was the first of a series of successful Westerns from the GDR DEFA Studios, featuring Native Americans as the heroes, rather than white settlers as in American Westerns.
It was also dubbed into the Russian language as Сыновья Большой Медведицы.
Yugoslavian (Serbian) sports teacher Gojko Mitić took the lead role, effectively launching his career. He plays the young chief Tokei-itho of the Dakota tribe who have been driven from their reservation by corrupt, sadistic and self-serving invaders. He became honorary chief of the tribe of Sioux, when he visited the United States of America in the 1990s, and the television-team accompanying him showed the tribe one of his movies.
Although the Indians are assured by contract of their land in the Black Hills, the white settlers still want to lay their hands on it, due to the recent discovery of gold. The main villain, Red Fox (named in English in the original) demands that Mattotaupa, chief of the Bear's tribe reveal the location of the cave with the gold. When Mattotaupa refuses, Red Fox stabs him.
When Lieutenant Roach orders Tokei-itho to come to Fort Smith for 'negotiations', Tokei-itho suspects an ambush. He refuses to move the tribe to an infertile area away from their reservation and so the tribe is forcibly moved by the American army from the land of their forefathers and the young chief incarcerated. On his release Tokei-itho learns of the murder of Tashunka-witko (Crazy Horse), another tribesman.
Finally, the Indians are forced to cross the Missouri River over the Border into Canada in the hope of a better life. But while they are crossing the river, Tokei-itho must deal with his mortal enemy Red Fox, the murderer of his father, and settle the score.
It is notable that the film does not completely equate evil characters with white settlers and good ones with Natives: early in the film, one of the older military men at Fort Smith is actually quite sympathetic to them, and the white predators led by Red Fox also have Indian trackers from another tribe. Red Fox himself got his name from a native initiation, and by trying to pass himself off as a semi-Indian/native gets what he wants.