‘Indian’ summer

Locally produced film explores hidden history of Haskell

By: Jon Niccum

The camera slowly dollies in on the stern face of actor Kevin Geer. About 30 cast and crew members crammed into the third floor of the Watkins Community Museum of History look on.

“This is not a prison. There are no walls. No fences. But there is a clock,” Geer scolds. “You will learn to respect time.”

“Respect” and “time” are key words on the set of “The Only Good Indian,” a film that takes place in the early 1900s when respectful treatment of American Indians was at an all-time low.

Today, the filmmakers are shooting a scene in which the Haskell superintendent (Geer) is addressing the Indian children who have just been pulled off the reservation. The story focuses on one such Kickapoo youth (played by newcomer Winter Fox Frank), who is taken from his family and forcibly sent to Haskell under government orders to integrate into white society.

After being assigned a new name and religion, Frank’s character escapes and attempts to return home, only to be pursued by an American Indian bounty hunter (Wes Studi).

“What we know of the Indian boarding schools all across the country is that they were almost like concentration camps,” says Steve Cadue, the Kickapoo tribal chairman who is on the set at the invitation of the filmmakers.

Check out the website for more information: http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2007/aug/31/indian_summer/