Synopsis
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.
Votre Filmothèque
Cast
- Val KilmerRay Levoi
- Sam ShepardFrank Coutelle
- Graham GreeneWalter Crow Horse
- Fred WardJack Milton
- Fred ThompsonWilliam Dawes
- Sheila TouseyMaggie Eagle Bear
- Ted Thin ElkGrandpa Sam Reaches
- John TrudellJimmy Looks Twice
- Julius DrumRichard Yellow Hawk
- Sarah BraveMaisy Blue Legs
Recommandations
- 88
Chicago Sun-Times
In Thunderheart we get a real visual sense of the reservation, of the beauty of the rolling prairie and the way it is interrupted by deep gorges, but also of the omnipresent rusting automobiles and the subsistence level of some of the housing. We feel that we're really there, and that the people in the story really occupy land they stand on. - 80
The New York Times
A film this intent on authenticity might easily grow dull, but this one doesn't; Mr. Apted is a skillful storyteller. He gives Thunderheart" a brisk, fact-filled exposition and a dramatic structure that builds to a strong finale, one that effectively drives the film's message home. - 80
TV Guide Magazine
A thoughtful, atmospheric thriller. - 70
Los Angeles Times
Thunderheart, directed by Michael Apted, is a kind of spiritual thriller, a moderately diverting programmer in which a predictable shoot-'em-up plot is slickly intertwined with American Indian religious customs and beliefs. Though the film has a tendency to take itself too seriously, it is enlivened by some appealing acting and vivid camerawork that save it from the abyss. - 70
Variety
Reasonably engrossing as a mystery-thriller despite its overburdened plot, Thunderheart succeeds most in its captivating portrayal of mystical Native American ways. - 70
Newsweek
A thriller set on an Indian reservation in the 1970s, Thunderheart has both passion and power, enough to compensate for its sometimes murky plotting and a fair dose of melodramatic hokum. - 60
Time Out
This directness, however, contrasts with an over-complicated script by John Fusco, who sets the action in the aftermath of the 1975 battle at Wounded Knee and the controversial arrest of American Indian Movement leader Leonard Peltier, accused of killing two FBI agents. But while appreciation may be enhanced by previous knowledge of these events, the story boasts integrity and serves as a forceful indictment of on-going injustice. - 50
Austin Chronicle
Apted manages to say a lot by cutting between the squalor of life on the reservation to the magnificence of the land around it. Unfortunately, when the characters speak for themselves, they are often forced to deliver lines that are unspeakable. There is an element of misty romanticism about Native Americans that Apted just doesn't manage to pull off. His yarn, however, is a good one even if it could be told a little better.
