Product Description

In 1800 there were 300000 Native Americans living in California; by 1900 only 20000 remained. Of the thousands who witnessed this slaughter it was thought that none remained wild until the day in 1911 when they called "Ishi" was captured raiding a slaughterhouse. Dr. Kroeber (Jon Voight) and his wife Henriette (Anne Archer) discover that Ishi (Graham Greene) is the last survivor of the Yahi tribe. In his head he carries the secrets of his people how they lived and died. These are secrets no man knows - but Dr. Kroeber makes it his mission to uncover them before the last of the Yahi is gone forever. Like Dance With Wolves THE LAST OF HIS TRIBE takes you into a world of violence mystery and survival- theworld that was still the Old West before it became new.Running Time: 90 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA UPC: 026359069321

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7555 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 2004-06-01
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 90 minutes

Features

• In 1800 there were 300,000 Native Americans living in California; by 1900 only 20,000 remained. Of the thousands who witnessed this slaughter, it was thought that none remained wild, until the day in 1911 when they called "Ishi" was captured raiding a slaughterhouse. Dr. Kroeber (Jon Voight) and his wife Henriette (Anne Archer) discover that Ishi (Graham Greene) is the last survivor of the Yahi tr

Customer Reviews

excellent on many levels
This film is a must see for many reasons, primarily because it documents the very end of the ~15,000 year legacy of free Native Americans on this continent: "Ishi," the last Yahi and free ranging Native American is forced by circumstance to enter modern civilization in the early 20th Century in California. The historical significance alone makes it worth seeing.

Beyond that, Graham Greene and Jon Voight give outstanding and moving performances. Greene (who is always excellent - Clearcut, Thunderheart, Dances With Wolves, etc.) as Ishi, and Voight as the genius anthropologist who takes him in.

Voight's character is a pure scientist through and through who finds it difficult to get emotionally involved with much of anything. He prefers to look at the world in terms of evidence and hard data. He is distant as his wife is dying, and Ishi tells him (paraphrasing) 'you put me in your book, but not in your heart.'

A satisfying, sweet, & good, (if not great) movie
"Last of his Tribe" is a satisfying, sweet, & good, (if not great) movie. It is the simplified (& slightly fictionalized) account of the last Yana Indian nicknamed, "Ishi" by A. Kroeber (an early anthropologist at U.Berkley). It accurately portrays Kroeber's struggle to keep emperical distance from his subject as his love & friendship grew for this stoic, kind, and generous man. It is based upon the (second-hand account) book written by Kroeber's second wife Theodora (also an Anthropologist) over a decade after the events. A. Kroeber never published anything about Ishi- and even quit Anthropology for a few years after Ishi's death, so distraught was he over his friend's death, and the perception that they had killed him by working him too hard (Ishi died of tuberculosis 3 months into Sapir's linguistic analysis). The film is sensitively acted by experts (Jon Voight, Graham Greene, David Ogden Stiers). The sets & details are reasonably accurate , but even when they could translate Ishi's stories, songs, & explanations literally, they could often not make sense of them- lacking the cultural background knowledge & the Yahi's conception of the universe/ time. The film takes some unnecessary liberties with the story (**No mention of translators E. Sapir or Indian S. Botwi** Ishi was more involved with the community- playing with local children, dating, etc.** what stunned Ishi most was crowds- he had never seen more than about 60 people together in his life** Dr. Pope was one of Ishi's main advocates/friends & not weird & insensitive ** Kroeber was able to go on sabbatical in Europe [not work at a NY museum] b/c Sapir was working with Ishi... You'll cry at the end. Read T. Kroeber's book, " Ishi in Two Worlds: A Biography of the Last Wild Indian in North America" and the dvd documentary, "Ishi - The Last Yahi".

Heart Wrenching!
I read the book, but the movie really brings home what the story meant. Truly amazing and heart wrenching - you will cry for Ishi, you will cry for all the Native Americans. Truly a must see! You will not be disappointed. Greene does another remarkable job!