The Seventh Fire

According to the "seven fires prophecy", the young braves of the Ojibwe nation will rise to defend its culture by restoring its core values. However, it quickly becomes clear in this documentary by Jack Pettibone Riccobono that they are more wrapped up in the trappings and temptations of modern life than native American tradition. Details are frustratingly sketchy in this well-meaning attempt to expose the plight of indigenous peoples in the United States, specifically the Pine Point settlement in Minnesota. The scene in which a Scarface-obsessed drug pusher reads his own rap sheet - prior to reporting for his fifth prison sentence - reveals where the problems lie. An aspiring poet and a doting father to his young daughter, this man has a sensitive side, but he epitomises the chauvinism, aggression, self-absorption and irresponsibility that drives the womenfolk of "P-Town" to despair. Riccobono paints a depressing, rarely seen picture of life on the fringes of American society and you get the feeling that he's barely scratching the surface.