prepared by Mike Cady
1991, Distributed by Cineglobe Video Inc.
Running Time 98 minutes
Based on the novel by M. T. Kelly, A Dream Like Mine
Directed by Richard Bugajski
Produced by Steven J. Roth and Ian McDougall
Associate Producer: Perri Gorrarra
Screenplay by Robert Forsyth
Music by Shane Harvey
Cinematography by Francois Protat
Editing by Michael Rue
Casting by Diedre Bowen
Production Designer: Shelly Gillen
Featured Native Musicians: The Eagleheart Singers-Drummers
Unit Medicine Woman: Jeanne Edwards
Ojbway Interpreter: Charlotte Childs
Filmed in Thunder Bay, Ontario
GRAHAM GREENE...................................ARTHUR
MICHAEL HOGAN....................................BUD RICKETS
REBECCA JENKINS..................................LOUISE
RON LEA......................................................PETER MAGUIRE
FLOYD RED CROW WESTERMAN........WILF
TIA SMITH...................................................POLLY
TOM JACKSON...........................................TOM STARBLANKET
RAQUL TRUJILLO......................................EUGENE
Clearcut begins with the arrival of a lawyer, Peter Maguire, on Indian lands which are now being victimized by the logging industry. Peter has just lost an appeal which would have stopped the logging firm from building the road which allows access to the Indian timber. His appeal was based on environmental impact and not on Indian rights. He finds his way to an area where there is a protest/confrontation going on between the Indians and the loggers, backed by the local police. This is not a peaceful protest and anger is exhibited by the Indians. Their antagonists show them little respect. This is where we get our first glimpse of Arthur.
After talking with an elder of the tribe, Wilf, Peter sets off with a reporter to catch a ride to the airport. On the way they stop at the mill and Peter has a confrontation with the mill manager, who basically calls him a loser and says that he is only representing the Indians for the money. Arthur again shows up. Later he meets again with Wilf and expresses his concerns that he is fighting a losing battle. He starts to doubt himself and sees himself as a loser. In frustration, he says, "Somebody has to pay. Somebody has to hurt."
The next scene is that of a "sweat ceremony." Wilf tells Peter that this will allow him to see what he really wants. In his vision, Peter sees Arthur and blood.
Peter and Arthur finally meet and in the conversation Arthur asks Peter what "the man who speaks for us" has done for him lately. Peter replies that he had lost the mill case. "What are you going to do next? Peter says that he is going to burn down the mill, kidnap the mill manager and skin him alive. In jest?
One thing leads to another and Arthur decides that those things are just what needs to be done. He kidnaps the mill manager and along with Peter he takes them out into the wilderness. After much travel, talk and debate Arthur does indeed start skinning the mill manager's leg. Peter keeps trying to reason with Arthur, but it does no good. Arthur is intent on seeking vengeance for Rickets' crimes and past crimes committed against Indians. Arthur intends to execute Rickets and perhaps also kill Peter.
Finally Peter decides that in order to stop this terror he will have to summon up enough courage to kill Arthur and a fight ensues. At the point where it appears that Peter has the upper hand, Arthur walks off into the water and sinks out of sight. Wilf then appears and takes the survivors back to the reservation where Peter and Wilf are arrested by the Mounties and taken off.
The thing that I found out about Clearcut is that the answers to some of the questions that arise from watching this movie are not clearcut. It is a hard movie to follow and it requires several viewings to pick up on its messages.
The main issue is that of Indian anger for present and past injustices and how to deal with them. There is the "White" way which involves the existing legal system and is dominated by white interests. Money and power seem to be the rule of thumb. Then there is the traditional way, which as in many other films, seems to be vengeance. An eye for an eye. Still, no amount of vengeance, no matter how violent and cruel, can seem to make up for the pain and suffering that was incurred in the past. "This is nothing, it's only one mans leg. God damn you come cheap."
Peter Mcquire sees himself as a social mediator for the Indians. He has read books on Indians and is even called "the one who speaks for us." He thinks that he knows about Indians and knows what they want and need. He feels that he is one with them in their fight and in a way is a Indian "want to be." Peter so closely identifies with them and their plight that he feels their anger and frustration. Some of this frustration and anger is his own. It comes from not being an effective lawyer and winning his appeal. Every one is calling him a loser and telling him that he is only in it for the money. He becomes convinced that he will lose this battle for the Indians and that they are powerless in the face of the courts. Peter is a man going through change. In his first encounter with Rickets, he states that he had left his halo in his briefcase and his briefcase was lost. No more mister nice guy? Wilf tells Peter that the sweat ceremony will show him what he really wants. His vision is of Arthur and blood. Earlier he had said, "Someone has to pay. Someone has to hurt." All of this anger is has built up inside of Peter and he has to release it somehow.
Enter Arthur, the "Wasekajac." He is the deceiver. He was told to teach man how to live in the right way. How to get along with the creatures and the forest, but he made quarrels. He stained the ground with blood. They told him no more, but he did not listen. There was too much blood. He had become the victim of his own stupid ways. He had lost himself. He had to be stopped. Arthur is the personification of Indian anger. He shows up out of no where. That is what spirits normally do. Actually, Arthur has risen from the depths of the lake. A dormant vision from the spirit world called upon to make Peter's vision a reality. The hints to Arthur's true identity are there. When riding in the canoe, Peter asks him where he is from. Arthur replies, "Recently." and flicks water into his face. In Arthur's final scene, he walks into the water and calmly sinks to the bottom. He is returning from where he has come. There are no air bubbles escaping as he goes down, which one would normally see when a living being drowns. Peter finally realizes who he is in the end and understands that he can come back.
Arthur carries around a bag with him all of the time. Inside he has duct tape, weapons and other items that allow him to carry out his mission. What is really inside, however, is Peter's anger. It is this anger that allows Arthur to exist in this realm. Arthur seems to show up when Peter is angry. First, at the confrontation at the logging camp, when Wilf is getting pushed around. Next, when the neighbors at the motel are making to much noise. And of course with Bud Rickets. Rickets is the personification of bigotry. He doesn't like Indians. They scare him because he thinks that they know something that he doesn't. He sees them as ungrateful whiners, who don't know how good they have it with the modern conveniences that the mill has made possible. They no longer have to suffer through the tradition of freezing and starving to death. In the end we see Peter look in the bag and it is empty. This is because Peter has let go of his anger and that is how he was able to stop the dream and Arthur. There was no more anger left in Peter for Rickets, only compassion. Arthur had nothing left to fuel his existence. His anger had made Arthur.
I am still trying to figure out Wilf's role in this whole thing. I believe him to have had a larger part in this than is shown on the surface. He set up the sweat ceremony. It is as though he knows ahead of time what is going to happen. On at least several occasions he was able to find the trio out in the wilderness. Early on in the film, he tells Peter, "If you ever need a ride, just light a fire, White man." Sure enough in the end Peter and Rickets are in the wilderness and have started afire and he comes Wilf to take them back from their ordeal. Twice he states that the influence of an elder is often overrated. Some how I get the feeling that he is being a little satirical. It is almost as though he has orchestrated this whole episode. He seems to be Peter's guide through this nightmare.
The young girl, Polly, seems to have a some what indistinct role. She ends up rescuing Peter's briefcase and through out the film we see her adding items to it. In the end we see the contents. A feather, a bottle, flowers and plants, a frog and legal paper are seen. Are these items that signify the education of Peter in the true way of Indian tradition? Peter tells Polly that he doesn't need the briefcase anymore. Is he no longer going to be a lawyer? What tie does Polly have with Arthur? In the end we see that she is wearing the medallion earlier worn around Arthur's neck.
Quite a few Indian issues are brought out in this film. Arthur said to Rickets, "You hate me so much it scares you. A man tears the wings off of a bird and he hates it because it can't fly and them it scares him because he doesn't know what its good for." This is a metaphor for the way the Indians have been treated. The White man basically tore the wings off of the Indians by taking away there traditional life style and means of sustenance. They put them on reservations and to the white man it seemed that they were not good for anything. Just a bunch of lazy, drunken Indians.
The issue of Indian lands comes up when the hunter says that he doesn't think that he is on Indian land. Arthur says, "Well, I'm a fuckin' Indian." The hunter says, "Doesn't make it Indian land." Just as in the early days of the settlement of this land, we had Indians living all across this country and the White man chose to ignore the fact that they had been there for centuries. The White man came and took what he chose and used it as he wished. Slaughtering the buffalo and leaving it to rot. I think that is why we saw the shot of the moose laying in the brush dying. I guess possession is not 9/10 of the law.
Clearcut is a confusing film and hard to watch, but is well worth the time because of the political messages that it puts forth.
A Dream Like Mine by M.T. Kelly
de Ariztlan, Primos Clearcut
Hicks, Chris, Clearcut
Hinson, Hal, CLEARCUT, Washington Post, 8/14/92
The NativeNet system is an Listserv and can be searched. Clearcut was discussed several times.
The Internet Movie Database Fact Sheet on Clearcut