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Cambria Baston
English 102
23 April 2015
Thunderheart culture
In the movie, Thunderheart, there are a series of murders on an Indian
Reservation that come to the FBIs attention. The FBI knows that the Native Americans
do not trust white people so they sent an agent that is one half Sioux. While this agent,
Ray, is trying to solve the murders, he experiences Indian culture in many ways. Straight
off of the plane Ray sees a traditional Indian outfit. The outfit included a leather shirt and
weaponry. The leather shirt was designed with symbols and neutral colors. Along side
the traditional shirt there was a hand held weapon that was used by the Indians to
protect themselves. After he sees the outfit he continued to the murder sight, here he
finds more culture. At the murder sight Ray has a run in with the Indians equivalent to a
police officer.The man wants to take the deceases to have a proper burial. Proper
burials are very important in Indian culture because that is a way for their spirits to be
properly released. Not only did the man need to have a proper burial he was placed
faced down in the dirt after being murdered, its is believed, by the Indians, that is one is
placed face down then their spirits will not be able to pass on. After learning that the
body was placed there face down down purposely, Ray finds an eagle feather with
stones placed around it. Eagle feathers are extremely spiritual in Indian culture but the
meaning of the use it in this instance is unknown. Soon after the seeing the body Ray
goes into the village to talk to some people. There he sees many aspects of culture
including how the people prefer to keep there hair long and is something that they all

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do, women and men. In Indian culture there is always a chief, in this movie their is also
a chief. The chief has visions of Ray and thus wishes to speak to him. It is a huge part
of Indian culture to for their chiefs to have visions in order to better lead the people of
the tribe. Not only does he have visions but when Ray comes to speak with him he
smokes from a pipe (maybe called peace pipe) and then asks that Ray smokes from it
as well. He wants him to smoke from it because it supposedly forces people to speak
nothing but the truth. This is very popular in their culture because many of their alliances
are based on trust and must always speak to each other truthfully. Not only did he want
the peace pipe to be smoked but he also insisted that Ray makes a trade with him in
order to tell him what he saw in his vision. Assuming that this is popular in Indian culture
it can be just a way for the chief to acquire trinkets. There are many more examples of
Native American Culture in the movie and all are very interesting.