12 Best Movies About Native Americans

Kevin Costner's epic western shows an American soldier slowly becoming part of a Lakota Sioux community. The film was praised for its extensive use of the Lakota language and for humanizing its Native characters, and it won 7 Oscars. It remains a milestone in the representation of Native Americans on film, though it's also been criticized for centering a white hero.

An independent film made by Native American filmmakers, directed by Chris Eyre and based on stories by Sherman Alexie. Two young men from the Coeur d'Alene reservation go on a road trip full of humor, grief and self-reflection. A personal, authentic portrait of modern Indigenous identity.

This historical adventure film is set during the French and Indian War, with prominent roles for Chingachgook and his son Uncas. With epic images, tragic romance and Daniel Day-Lewis in top form, it's both a classic action film and a tribute to a disappearing world.

Dustin Hoffman plays a white man raised by the Cheyenne who, at over a hundred years old, looks back on his bizarre life. Part satire, part tragic epic, it exposes the hypocrisy and cruelty of American westward expansion, with a memorable Chief Dan George.

A murder on the Wind River reservation in Wyoming exposes the harsh reality of violence against Native women. Taylor Sheridan's film combines thriller with social criticism and features a powerful performance by Gil Birmingham as a grieving father.

Terrence Malick's poetic take on the story of Pocahontas and John Smith is visually stunning and meditatively slow, showing the clash of worlds with moving subtlety. Colin Farrell and Q'orianka Kilcher give nuanced performances in a story full of silence, nature and spiritual struggle.

Two Cheyenne men go on a road trip in an old car: one an activist, the other a dreamer. The film blends spiritual symbolism with social criticism and shows daily life on a reservation without romanticizing it.

Although it's the story of Hugh Glass's survival, the Arikara and Pawnee play a major role. Alejandro González Iñárritu gives the Indigenous characters space and dignity, using their perspective to highlight the brutality of trappers and settlers.

A quiet, intimate film about a brother and sister growing up on the Pine Ridge reservation. Director Chloé Zhao, later known for Nomadland, lets the landscape, the silence and the inner lives of her characters speak, without sentiment or cliché.

A tough western in which an army captain (Christian Bale) escorts a dying Cheyenne chief back to his ancestral land. Though not without controversy, it offers more nuance than many predecessors, with room for atonement, forgiveness and mutual respect.

The first feature film made entirely in the Haida language, from Canada. It's based on a classic Haida story about a man who, after a tragedy, survives in the forest as a wild being. Visually impressive, spiritually charged and an important cultural document of language preservation and storytelling.

Martin Scorsese's large-scale drama about the murders of wealthy Osage people in the 1920s by white opportunists. With a phenomenal performance by Lily Gladstone and sharp criticism of colonialism and racism, it's a painful but necessary film about theft, betrayal and justice.