Controversial documentary will be shown at Hamburg’s Palace Theatre By: SARAH REYNOLDS
SUN REPORTER
The Exiles” is a 1961 documentary written and directed by Kent MacKenzie that will be coming to the Hamburg Palace Theatre for an exclusive engagement at 7 p.m. from Tuesday, Jan. 13 through Thursday, Jan. 15.
The film chronicles a day in the life of a group of twenty-something Native Americans who left the reservation life in the 1950s to live in a Los Angeles district known as Bunker Hill.
The film helps blend storytelling with documentation with the help of Mackenzie. The story develops with the help of voice-overs by the film’s main characters.
Two of the main characters in the film are Yvonne Williams, who is a pregnant young woman, and Tommy Reynolds, who is the father.
The other main focal point is Homer Nish. Both men in the film are alcoholics.
With Bunker Hill as the backdrop for the majority of the film, it was once the home to many of the wealthy individuals in Los Angeles.
By 1960, the area was decayed with Victorian mansions and apartment buildings.
For the individuals featured, the film shows the men spending their nights bar hopping and gambling while the women try to keep their families together and dream of going to see films.
The script for the film was created by interviews with the documentary subjects.
The film has been largely unseen by the public. A restored version produced by the UCLA Film and Television Archive premiered at the Berlin Film Festival in February 2008.
In addition, writing for the script for was created by conducting interviews with the documentary subjects and using their input during the shooting of the film.
The film has long been considered one of the first works of art that portrays modern Native American life among Native American writers and activists.
The film is seen as an important advocate for the cultural renaissance of American Indian fiction, poetry, filmmaking and theater starting in the 1970s.
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