Movies Similar to The Warrior Tradition

Homeland(2000)

Following four Lakota families over three years, Homeland explores what it takes for the Lakota community to build a better future in the face of tribal and government corruption, scarce housing, unemployment, and alcoholism. Intimate interviews with a spiritual leader, a grandmother, an artist, and a community activist from South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Indian Reservation reveal how each survives through family ties, cultural tradition, humor, and a palpable yearning for self-reliance and personal freedom.

Served Like a Girl(2017)

Five women veterans who have endured unimaginable trauma in service create a shared sisterhood to help the rising number of stranded homeless women veterans by entering a competition that unexpectedly catalyzes moving events in their own lives.

Indian America: A Gift from the Past(1994)

In 1970 a storm uncovers an ancient whaling village called Ozette which had been buried some 500 years ago by a massive mudslide. The resulting excavation brings new knowledge of the past important to both the Makah Indians, living on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington and for the historical record of Native Americans in the Pacific Northwest.

Imagining the Indian: The Fight Against Native American Mascoting(2021)

Examining the movement that is ending the use of Native American names, logos, and mascots in the world of sports and beyond.

Soldier(2017)

A young man decides to join the army. He becomes the drummer in the military band, and his everyday life is now a combination of military training and music. What does the Argentine Army do these days, more than thirty years after the dictatorship? What does it mean to be a soldier in a country without wars?

Warrior: The Life of Leonard Peltier(1991)

An intimate exploration of the circumstances surrounding the incarceration of Native American activist Leonard Peltier, convicted of murder in 1977, with commentary from those involved, including Peltier himself.

Carrier at War: The USS Enterprise(2007)

Going from 0 to 150 mph in three seconds, withstanding three Gs of force, and taking off from what's often called "the most dangerous place on the planet" are just parts of everyday life for an aircraft carrier pilot-and it's no different for the crew aboard the USS Enterprise. After being stationed in the Middle East for a year, these pilots have seen heavy action in Afghanistan and Iraq. Now, finally, they're returning home. With amazing personal stories and real-time footage from missions, this is an exciting insider's peek at life onboard a wartime aircraft carrier.

American Native(2014)

Thirty miles from Manhattan a group of mysterious mountain people fight for recognition as a legitimate Native American tribe from the Bureau of Indian Affairs. What begins as their journey travels the country as Native American’s fight for their rights at Standing Rock, Apache Junction and throughout the United States. Examining through expert interviews and unbridled access to the ­community, the film provides an in ­depth look at the complex past, volatile present and endangered future of the Ramapough Mountain Indians and what it truly means to be a “Native American”.

First Daughter and the Black Snake(2017)

The “Prophecy of the 7th Fire” says a “black snake” will bring destruction to the earth. For Winona LaDuke, the “black snake” is oil trains and pipelines. When she learns that Canadian-owned Enbridge plans to route a new pipeline through her tribe’s 1855 Treaty land, she and her community spring into action to save the sacred wild rice lakes and preserve their traditional indigenous way of life. Launching an annual spiritual horse ride along the proposed pipeline route, speaking at community meetings and regulatory hearings. Winona testifies that the pipeline route follows one of historical and present-day trauma. The tribe participates in the pipeline permitting process, asserting their treaty rights to protect their natural resources. LaDuke joins with her tribe and others to demand that the pipelines’ impact on tribal people’s resources be considered in the permitting process.

Serving in Secret: Love, Country, and Don't Ask, Don't Tell(2023)

Tracing the U.S. military's long history of discrimination against the gay community and one couple's personal journey for acceptance.

Incident at Oglala(1992)

On June 26, 1975, during a period of high tensions on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota, two FBI agents were killed in a shootout with a group of Indians. Although several men were charged with killing the agents, only one, Leonard Peltier, was found guilty. This film describes the events surrounding the shootout and suggests that Peltier was unjustly convicted.

The New Amazon(1915)

This intriguing and beautifully-shot newsreel features sea-faring heroes, feisty females and a generous lick of paint for a Mississippi steamship.

The Lost Spirits(2009)

The last surviving Native Americans on Long Island are the focus of The Lost Spirits. The film chronicles their struggles as an indigenous people to maintain their identity amidst relentless modernization and a heartless bureaucracy.

Days of Youth(2016)

The Russian island Sakhalin lies 8000 km to the east of Moscow. Every summer, with state support, it hosts a military-patriotic camp for kids from the region. The children are being trained in patriotism and armed combat, backed by lessons of Russian orthodox tradition. In Summer 2015, due to the 70th anniversary of the victory of the soviet army in WWII, the camp takes part in reconstruction of a historic battle, where the kids take on the roles of soldiers. The documentary follows the children in their daily training until the final performance.

Scenes from the Glittering World(2021)

At the farthest edge of the Navajo Nation, the purpose and future of the most remote high school in the continental United States is in question while three Indigenous youth grapple with ambitious dreams, family responsibilities, and the isolated nature of their community.

Anti-Objects, or Space Without Path or Boundary(2017)

The title of this video, taken from the texts of the architect Kengo Kuma, suggests a way of looking at everything as “interconnected and intertwined” - such as the historical and the present and the tool and the artifact. Images and representations of two structures in the Portland Metropolitan Area that have direct and complicated connections to the Chinookan people who inhabit(ed) the land are woven with audio tapes of one of the last speakers of chinuk wawa, the Chinookan creole. These localities of matter resist their reduction into objects, and call anew for space and time given to wandering as a deliberate act, and the empowerment of shared utility.

Armádní den(1948)

For the Rights of All: Ending Jim Crow in Alaska(2009)

In 1867, when the United States purchased the Alaska territory, the promise of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights didn't apply to Alaska Natives. Their struggle to win justice is one of the great, untold chapters of the American civil rights movement, culminating at the violent peak of World War II with the passage of one of the nation's first equal rights laws.

Mitakuye Oyasin(2015)

Lakota people from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota describe the ongoing struggle of their people.

Black Hawk Down(1997)

The story behind the infamous downing of an American Black Hawk helicopter by Somali gunmen.