Page 85 - Gilbert & Me_Neat

Other acts follow, including his courageous defence of the women and children during a raid on
the Sioux by the Pawnee – their mortal enemies. Then he marries the white woman – who was
already kinda fooling around with him (as they would – neither having encountered the warmth
of another human being for quite some time….). Eventually, the tribe has to move on to their
winter camp, but the Lieutenant has to return to his Fort to recover a journal he’d been keeping.
It’s here that the movie’s worst action occurs.

When the Lieutenant approaches his Fort, he discovers that a whole bunch of soldiers are
encamped there. They spot him before he sees them and, because he’s dressed in semi Indian
gear, they mistake him for an Indian. He’s captured, beaten, mocked, beaten again, arrested and
called a traitor. While he’s been away the Sioux realise he’s not coming back (they been waiting
for him to return), so they send a search party. These Indians witness the capture and beating of
their friend, and, as he is being transported back to the main garrison some distance away, set
about rescuing him. Before they encounter the party, the Lieutenant witnesses the soldiers trying
to kill Two Socks, who has been following the wagon party. His human is being taken away, so
he goes with him. The soldiers take pot shots at the wolf, they are pretty useless really, and the
lieutenant is making it harder for them by knocking the soldiers off their feet and generally
disrupting their attempts. But to no avail, after the Lieutenant receives a heavy blow to his head,
one of the soldiers successfully kills Two Socks. There’s nothing the Lieutenant can do – his
wolf friend has been killed. So now he’s angry and baying for revenge. The rescue attempt by
the Sioux catches the soldiers off guard and it’s a very blood thirsty affair; the Lieutenant
manages to kill a number of the soldiers before being freed, but one gets away.

So now the Lieutenant is a real traitor; he can’t stay with his Indians friends because the
Americans will not stop searching for him and that is obviously, not good news for the tribe. He
and his wife have to leave their friends. It’s a very sad moment. They have become good friends,
they trust each other, they have become family. But the greed and hatefulness of the white man
for the Indian, forces this tribe to lose its friend. That’s really the story of the movie – greed and
hate destroyed what could have been a wonderful partnership between Indian and Caucasian
peoples, but it was never given a chance.

It’s a three hour long movie, and by the end I am, indeed, in tears again. I have temporarily been
transported away from thoughts of rugby and just about anything else. It’s late now too. Time for
sleep.

Lights out.

Number of cases: 18
Number of deaths: 2