Courtesy 20th Century Studios
A/C, Aug. 10: “Best. Predator. Ever.”
True story preferred
...I just watched the film [Prey]. It pretty much built a narrative totally different than the well-documented history of the Comanches. The film is set in 1719. By 1719 the Comanches had driven the Lippan Apaches off the Great Plains and into Mexico and the mountains of southern New Mexico. Not bad for a group that prior to the arrival of the Spanish and horses, were a very unimpressive sub-band of the Shoshone in the Front Range of Colorado and Wyoming. In the aftermath of the Pueblo Revolt, they acquired enough horses and the skills to ride them well enough to become true Lords of the Plains. More than a few scholars assert that between the early 1700s and the post-US Civil War they called the economic shots between Kansas on the North, Mexico City on the South, Houston on the East, and the Rio Grande on the West. They dictated the rules to the Spanish, Mexicans, French, Americans and every tribe they encountered. Had Governor DeAnza not won a victory near today’s Pueblo, Co., in which their leader, Cuerno Verde, was killed, the Spanish settlements the length of New Mexico might well have collapsed. In the aftermath, a treaty was negotiated which pretty much kept large raids from happening until the arrival of Kearny and the Americans that took the position they were going to push all Native Americans onto reservations...
This film was entertaining and should be praised for using the Comanche language and other authentic material, but being this off base in the telling of a franchise film might be more damaging than John Ford casting Jeffery Chandler as the Comanche Chief in The Searchers, or countless other disrespectful movies and TV shows. It is especially galling because the true story of the Comanches, and their leaders such as Cuerno Verde and Quanna Parker would make a much more compelling film...I am very happy that many Native American filmmakers are emerging, and that many of them live in and around Santa Fe. To my way of thinking, Reservation Dogs is one of the best television shows to come down the pike in years, and I would really love to see the folks involved in it move on to maybe tell the true story of the Comanches.
Bob White, Santa Fe
