Analysis Of The Movie 'The Missing'

There are a lot of movies that have come out of Hollywood that contain aspects about how Natives lived. Usually, the depiction of Natives are far from the truth. Much of society’s views about these groups of people, even today, come from these misleading movies. The 2003 movie “The Missing” portrays elements of the Apache culture. Upon further investigation you can see that this movie in particular displays the identity of the Native American, more specifically the Apache people in negative and positive way.
Summary
Set in 1885 New Mexico, the movie begins with a woman (Maggie) and her two daughters (Lily and Dot) living on a ranch. One day a man shows up on the ranch looking for some hospitality, but he is actually Maggie’s estranged
father looking to reconnect with her after many years apart. Right when her father (Samuel) is about to be on his way, her oldest daughter is taken by an Apache Rebel group who are passing through and making it a point to kill settlers along the way. Now Maggie and her father are forced to work together to track down the men who took Lily. Along the way, Samuel talks of his experiences staying with other tribes and he even runs into a friend of his and his son, who are also tracking down the Apache rebels. They decide to stay together and that helps them to finally catch up to the rebels. They are able to free the stolen girls, at the expense of Samuel’s friend’s life and head up to the mountains. The kidnappers follow behind them and aren’t going down without a fight. Samuel and the group have no other choice but to stand and fight. Samuel and the leader of the kidnappers end up fighting, and the leader tries to shoot Maggie. Samuel, in efforts of saving his daughters life, ends up killing the leader of the rebel group and himself. The group and the newly freed girls are able to leave and head back to the ranch with Samuel’s body in tow.
New insights from the film This film didn’t have much to offer when it came to providing insight into all aspects of the Native Culture. “The Missing” did not paint a very inclusive, or even an accurate picture of the apache people. The only Native people who had the attention on them were the Apache Rebels, and these are not ideal depictions of these people. They are very much so rebels and do not portray a clear or accurate image of the Apache people. If the film was at all accurate in the details about Samuel staying with tribes during his travels, then I find that to be very interesting. From the stand point of it being accurate, I find it very impressive that tribes let outsiders stay with them. This is surprising, not only due to the fact that there was probably a language barrier and most definitely a culture barrier, but also due to the fact that white settlers were usually destructive to their land and people. This insight shows even the smallest detail of the fact these people, the Apaches, were not just savages.
How the concept of identity relates to the film
This film relates to the anthropological term identity in the sense that the film fails to accurately portray this group’s identity.
Identity from an anthropological stand point refers to the uniqueness of a person or group and its qualities. The movie actually depicts their identity as a group of violent savages with mystical abilities. There are very few positive or insightful moments of what the true identity of the Apaches actually consists of. If this movie was someone’s only point of reference they would have an image of Apache people or even all Native Americans that is full of so many falsehoods. According to research, violence is not a way of life, it is a matter of bettering or helping yourself. Benedict refers back to a conversation between a father and son to explain the values of the Apache. "The father talks to his son. ‘My son you know no one will help you in this world.... No one is your friend, not even your sister, your father or your mother. Your legs are your friends; your brain is your friend; your eyesight is your friend; your hair is your friend; your hands are your friends; you must do something with them’. Warfare was oriented toward this "help" in strict terms of booty taken; neither coups nor scalps nor elaborate warpath ritual were integral parts Chiricahua [Apache] culture” (Benedict, 1942). The identity of these people was not accurately represented throughout the film. Throughout the film, both Samuel and the rebel group leader are depicted doing various rituals, which depicted an exaggeration of their spirituality, so much so it was almost magic. For example, the rebel leader finds a brush Maggie left behind and is able to make her fall extremely ill with his mystical powers and her connection to the brush. The only thing that helps cure this sickness is a spiritual necklace obtained from another Native. The whole situation seemed to lean more towards magic and mysticism than anything else. In reality the Apache people mostly use
shamans, someone who believes someone is speaking to them or they have obtained powers from animals, when someone is sick and hardly ever for evil. Opler writes “The principal function and attribute of the possessor of a power grant, however, is to cure sickness and the Chiricahua who is able to practice an effective curing ceremony earns respect and even riches” (Opler, 1947). This is an example of a large part of Apache identity being exaggerated almost to the point of mockery. Identity was a large element in this film in the fact that it was largely misrepresented and exaggerated.
Reactions to the film It is important to point out that Native Americans are in no way the actual focus of this film. When the Apache rebels do appear on screen they are mostly secondary characters for the entirety of the film. There are a handful of positives and negatives about this film overall. To begin with, the characters in the film were required to speak the Apache language, not just pretend to like many films in the past have done. This is important to point out because it shows the people who were working on this film wanted it to be more authentic. Given that the creators of “The Missing” went so far as to have their actors study to learn their lines in the Native language so it was authentic, it would make someone wonder why they would be so far off the mark for the rest of their portrayal of the Apache people. Another negative about this film is that this movie does not stand out from any other movie with Native Americans. Once again, we have a movie with Native Americans in it and they are, for the most part, just these savages with mystical abilities. The two characters that differed from the stereotype were Samuel’s friend and his son. With that being said, they only really differ from the overwhelming stereotype of being these angry individuals because they do not have that many lines. After their initial meeting when their paths cross the man and his son do not speak very often. This movie comes off as just another movie about Indians that does nothing to pay tribute or benefit the community of Native Americans.
What this film was missing
Even though this films main characters were not actually the Natives, for a movie that was two hours and sixteen minutes long, they could have had more dialogue among them. A majority of the dialogue for the Apaches that takes place throughout the movie is speaking out loud, mostly mystical spells, or shouting commands. Conversations between the Apaches does not exist. This is important to notice because even though they are such a crucial element to the story, no character building has been done. Not once throughout the film are you shown insight into who those Apache people were or even how they ended up crossing paths with Samuel and his family. If there was more dialogue between the Apaches themselves you would be able to obtain more insight about them and their culture. Character building is a crucial element to developing a plot, and this movie failed to build on the back story of not just the Apache rebel leader, but the Apache group as a whole. Since these characters were not giving any background or dialogue to explain who they are, they are merely just supporting roles. That being said, placing them in the category of supporting role you could wonder how they are so crucial to the story, but you never really learn anything about them. These Apache characters, like in most movies with Native Americans, are crucial to the story but treated as background characters. Overall, it would have benefited not only the film, but also the audience had there been more dialogue among the Apache rebels. The film would have been different from what is typical to most Native American movies, while providing the audience with an accurate knowledgeable understanding of what some of the Apache people and lives were like during the 1880’s.
The impact of the film
This film had an impact on me, and I could assume that it also had a lasting effect on others. If it was not for this class and everything I have learned throughout the semester I would have had a very stereotypical take away from “The Missing”. This film furthers the idea that the identity of Native Americans is a violent one. The film on many occasions showed the Apache rebels either killing or violently beating anyone who opposed them. Furthermore, the role of the Apaches was for the most part an antagonistic role. I think having another film with this role setup furthers these Native American stereotypes. The more films or stories that stick to the storyline of having white settlers be protagonists and Native Americans be antagonists the more it instills in the audience that is what took place in history. If the only accounts that people get their information from of what happened between Native Americans and white settlers is through movies, they will end up with a very skewed or inaccurate view of the Native American people. This movie fails to acknowledge even the key elements of what occurred between the natives and the settlers, most importantly assimilation. “The assimilation movement, destined to hold sway for more than half a century, was designed to break down tribal communalism and retrofit the unbuffered individuals for life and competition in a free- market economy. More significantly, the movement sought to break the tribal hold on land and culture and the nomadic, space consuming lifestyle of hunting and gathering…” (Ragsdale, 2010). This was a large element of history and what could be assumed is the reason most Native American even had to resort to violence. As Ragsdale states settlers were knowingly trying to take over their land and remove their culture and put their own culture and lifestyles in place. This very important aspect of history is hardly ever included in movies that have Native Americans in them, which could be the main motive for their behaviors. When movies like “The Missing” only focus on the negatives of these people or even exaggerate what they did throughout history it perpetuates an incorrect image of these people, only prolonging the violet savage stereotype.
Conclusion
Even though the Apache rebels were not the focus of the movie where a daughter reconnects with her estranged father on a journey to get her daughter back, they were a key element to the story. The Apache rebels were placed the in background and, once again, given a very stereotypical role. There were aspects in this film that did differ from mainstream Hollywood, and that was that the actors actually learned and spoke the Apache language. This is a positive step forward for the making of films that have Native Americans in them. This element of authenticity is a positive for this, but that does not outweigh the negative stereotypes about Native American identity that were reaffirmed throughout the film.