Title: You Must Go As Two
Fandom: Thunderheart
Spoilers: Entire movie.
Disclaimer: At this point I would like to say something about my views not representing the whole of fandom but - well. Rareslash has its drawbacks.
Author's Notes: Not mine, damnit. All of the quotations were transcribed by me using the time-tested method of pause/scribble/pause/scribble, so any discrepancies between what's written here and what was actually said in the movie are my fault entirely. Also: they curse. So do I.

Following the release of Kevin Costner's Dances With Wolves, many movies came out in an attempt to romanticize the Native Americans and to keep them enshrined in the 'noble savage' myth, a move that would see they lose all political relevance. Thunderheart, however, fearlessly confronts the cultural struggle between Native Americans who want to preserve their traditions and those who would seek integration into mainstream US society. Another plus in its column is that this movie, unlike DWW, does not have Kevin Costner in it. (Also, to be completely shallow, Graham Greene is a hotass.)

This little-known 1992 film starring Val Kilmer and Graham Greene casts a harsh light on the United States' treatment of her aboriginal citizens, the Native Americans. Specifically, it focuses on the murder of Leo Fast Elk and the subsequent attempted cover-up by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Had anyone aside from Siskel, Ebert, and myself actually seen it, Thunderheart would surely have raised the average person's awareness of our hideous record with the Native Americans.

But they didn't, and chances are that you didn't, either, so let me make a few introductions.

as far from yourself as a hawk from the moon

Meet Ray Levoi. Don't let the dour expression fool you, because this man has more layers (and issues) than your average wedding cake. He's an FBI agent who believes in the strength and the integrity of the law more than anything, but here's the catch: he's also half Sioux, a fact he finds humiliating. His father built skyscrapers and was, apparently, a drunkard, feared by his wife and his young son. At school, Levoi scorns his father along with the other children - he is, however, only five or six at this time. In either a fit of drunken fantasy or of suicidal longing, Levoi's father throws himself from a building because, as Levoi says, "he believed he could fly." Following his death, it is most likely that Levoi's mother kept him from all Native American influences, considering his awkwardness with the Sioux rituals.

Nonetheless, his ancestry is integral to his work; he, along with legendary senior agent Frank Coutelle, is assigned to investigate the murder of Leo Fast Elk who was gunned down on a Lakota Sioux reservation in the South Dakota Badlands. Levoi is only given the assignment because of his half-Sioux bloodline; his boss believes that if the reservationists are presented with someone who has a nodding acquaintance with their customs, they will be more inclined to accept the FBI investigation.

Unfortunately for them, Levoi's shame over his heritage has resulted in an extremely successful attempt to purge himself of any traces of his Sioux father, so when Walter Crow Horse arrives at the murder scene and makes mention of the journey on which Fast Elk must now embark, Levoi has no clue what the hell he's talking about.

Fortunately for us, Levoi's character is not static; over the course of the movie, exposed to the bloody actions of his own government and of men he respects (Coutelle, for one), Levoi changes from the staid asshole he was at the beginning to a rebellious asshole at the end. He is granted a vision that places him running with the massacred Sioux at Wounded Knee; Grandpa says he is the reincarnated soul of Thunderheart, a brave warrior who fought to protect his people.

white man's time will give you stomach cancer

Meet Walter Crow Horse. Sent away to one of the soul-crushing "re-education" facilities for Native American children in his youth, Crow Horse is now the local sheriff of the reservation, a fact he uses to thwart the FBI agents at every possible point. When not on duty, he tends to ride around on a very fast motorcycle, seeming to dog Levoi's steps at times (whenever he drives by, he flips Levoi off - it's love!) He's irreverent, intelligent, and absolutely essential to Levoi's quest to find the person truly responsible for Fast Elk's murder. Crow Horse eventually acts as something of a go-between for Levoi and the people of the reservation, speaking to Grandpa Sam Reaches, the tribal elder, about the murder. Even though they begin to work together, however, they still take every given opportunity to snark at each other.

Levoi: You gotta be kidding me.
Crow Horse: License and registration, please, sir.
Levoi: Kiss my ass.
Crow Horse: Hey, this is my jurisdiction, and you were doing 59 in a 55.
Levoi: Let me see the radar.
Crow Horse: I don't need no radar; I can tell.
Levoi: You're so full of shit.
Crow Horse: No, I listened to the wind when you went by. It said, "59. Nail him [pause] before the traditionals do."

run for the stronghold/the soldiers are coming

Now that you know the two main characters, let me explain the story. As I mentioned above, Levoi and Coutelle are sent to Bear Creek Reservation to investigate the murder of Fast Elk. Initially, Levoi bows to Coutelle's interpretation of the evidence, even going so far as to fabricate a report to spare his superior officer the embarrassment of relating the circumstances of his injury (he was bitten by a badger). From the start, it seems, Coutelle is determined to pin the murder on James Looks Twice, a member of the Aboriginal Rights Movement (ARM) who is working for recognition by and separation from the United States government. The more he works with Crow Horse, however, the more Levoi realizes that Coutelle is not only looking determinedly at the wrong man, he is doing it deliberately.

Through his interaction with members of the tribe, especially Maggie Eagle Bear and Grandpa, Levoi begins to understand that something more important than a single murder has occurred, and that the murder itself is only a small part of a vast conspiracy to cheat the Sioux out of even this poor excuse for a treaty fulfillment and to make a handful of people very, very rich. Turns out that Coutelle, along with two other fine, upstanding officers of the law, promised to let Richard Yellow Hawk, then in prison, out on parole if he murdered Fast Elk and helped to blame the crime on Looks Twice. Yellow Hawk is killed by Coutelle's agents on the reservation shortly after spilling the story to Levoi.

Crow Horse and Levoi have by now established a working relationship, beginning with the discovery of Fast Elk's car and culminating in the confrontation at the stronghold. They had uncovered the furtive drilling of uranium at Red Deer Table, along with the body of Maggie Eagle Bear, an activist who led Levoi to expose Yellow Hawk's involvement. (There is a heartbreaking moment right about here: as soon as Levoi sees the newly-dug hole and realizes that someone is in there, he fucking whimpers, "Walter," like he's begging him to make it not true.) Thus, the whole bloody story is this: Jack Milton, a pro-government Sioux, had been illegally leasing Red Deer Table to the federal government for test drilling in exchange for money. Rather a lot of money, one imagines. Fast Elk learns of the drilling, doesn't like it, tells Eagle Bear, they both wind up dead, and Looks Twice is set up as the fall guy. Because of Looks Twice's support of ARM, he's Milton's perfect patsy: if he goes down for murder, ARM is destroyed and Milton and his cronies can drill to their hearts' content.

There you have it. It ain't pretty, and, what's worse, it's based on true events. Because it depresses me unutterably to read it again, you may read for yourselves the story of Leonard Peltier; here is a brief introduction, and The Case of Leonard Peltier is an in-depth, up-to-date study of his case.

if you ever need a place to come back to

Why 'ship them? Let's get the physical aspects of the case out of the way: Val Kilmer and Graham Greene are two terribly attractive people. Like milkshakes and French Fries, one supposes, they're better together. In their first shared scene, Levoi throws Crow Horse face-first to the ground, jumps on top of him, grunts, and - okay, he arrests him for murder. But it was still hot.

Luckily, there are a few better reasons that that.

For one, they rarely stop sniping at each other (see the "kiss my ass" exchange mentioned earlier), and for another, Crow Horse states outright that Levoi is warm for his form. Because he rattles off this fact in the midst of other exceptionally true statements, including an accurate yet unconfirmed description of the murder and of Levoi himself, it is safe to take the statement at face value.

I like to call this portion of the essay when subtext is no longer hidden simply for the following conversation.

Crow Horse: Whoever killed Leo walks heel-toe.
Levoi: Plantigrade.
Crow Horse: Yeah, like a white man. Jimmy has a real serious Indian walk. Carries about 140 pounds. This guy was a big son of a buck. Based on the depth of that print, pressure released, I'd say he goes 210, 215.
Levoi: You gonna tell me how much change he had in his pocket?
Crow Horse: Sixty-three cents.
Levoi: You're outta your jurisdiction. Let's go.
Crow Horse: Jurisdiction's the only thing you got. You gotta listen to the trees, hoss. Gotta stop and listen to the wind. It will tell you things.
Levoi: Crow Horse, I flew in here from a place called the twentieth century. I don't need to listen to the trees or talk to the sand to get answers.
Crow Horse: Well, you go back to the ME and take a good look inside Leo's wounds and you tell me how he got red limestone in there. You'll only find that at the bed of the Little Walking River. That's where he was killed - where she crosses Maggie Eagle Bear's place. You tell 007 when he's finished getting stitched up [Levoi interrupts]
Levoi: Watch your mouth. You couldn't dust Frank Coutelle's badge.
Crow Horse: Or his badger, for that matter. [pause; Levoi is walking away] You weigh 173, huh? You're not a beer drinker; you're one of these tofu and pilaf characters. You wear your gun on your right hip but you got a backup, a little .32, .38, maybe, in an ankle holster. Gives you a left-foot drag. You're wearing brand-new shoes that are a little too tight in the instep but man, they look cool, and that's what counts. Am I right?
Levoi: Crow Horse? Fuck you.
Crow Horse: [mutters] You'd love to.

Levoi does heed Crow Horse's words, as is apparent in his next scene with Coutelle. He found a shell casing from the actual murder scene, an invaluable piece of evidence - which Crow Horse led him to.

Coutelle: How'd you get this?
Levoi: Fraternizing.
Coutelle: With who?
Levoi: The Indian cop, Crow Horse.
Coutelle: You're barking up the wrong tree, Ray. He plays with FBI heads. That's his MO.

Here Coutelle implies that Crow Horse has a history of screwing with FBI investigations - understandable, all things considered, but in this case Crow Horse led Levoi right to the place Fast Elk was murdered. It's obvious that Crow Horse wants to solve the case, and that he's willing to work with Levoi. Only with Levoi, however, because all of the other g-men either don't rate with him or show up as a minor annoyance on his radar.

He and Crow Horse team up again to visit Grandpa, who speaks to Levoi about his father, recalling the incident where Levoi scorned him in order to protect himself from the jeers of his classmates. Crow Horse leaves after a few more minutes, as does Levoi, and as Levoi is going to his car, Crow Horse - establishing a pattern that holds true for the rest of the movie - follows him.

Crow Horse: He [Grandpa] said you're chasing the wrong man. Jimmy didn't do it. He said we should follow this.

Crow Horse is pointing to his heart as he says this (and if there's a context for the phrase "follow your heart" that isn't romantic, I'd like to hear it), walking after Levoi and trying to convince him that they not only cannot work against one another but that they must also work together. Levoi flips him off, but this moment more than almost any other illustrates Crow Horse's willingness and desire to work with him - I'm not even sure a kiss would have served the purpose better. (Not that I'd object to one, mind you.) As they are finishing this scene, Grandpa comes out onto his porch wearing Levoi's Ray-Bans and chuckling to himself; he had swindled Levoi out of them for a rock. Levoi and Crow Horse share a smile as they leave.

Also, as luck would have it, Crow Horse was with Levoi in his previous life, and Grandpa says that to save the tribe, they must go as two to the stronghold, where they will confront whoever is causing the destruction of their land and the contamination of their water supply. (He says this in a trance-like state, and is of course speaking his native language, so Crow Horse translates for Levoi.)

Crow Horse: He says back behind Red Deer Table, there are strange beings from another world who eat stones and dirt and who will kill anyone who crosses into this place. This is what the spirits say. He says they saw you going back into the land beyond Red Deer Table. I was with you. [. . .] Go to Red Deer Table. Go to the land where the Elk People used to live. But you must go as two.

When Levoi storms away from the circle after this announcement, Crow Horse follows him (he is the only one to do so immediately), an action that results in one of the most charged scenes from the movie: Levoi draws his gun on Crow Horse, warning him back, and Crow Horse starts talking him down, trying to reconcile him to what he has just heard. Grandpa follows eventually, saying that the two remind him of a "couple of old women" and inviting them to watch television with him. They both begin to chuckle, probably struck by the absurdity of the situation, their own actions, and Grandpa's offer all at the same time, and when they walk back, Crow Horse has his arm slung casually around Levoi's shoulders.

So you have the snark and the sex and the subtext; what more do you need? Technically, nothing, but you'll get one more thing before the end: friendship. Over the course of the movie, Levoi and Crow Horse go from bristling with hostility at the mere sight of each other (Ray did most of the bristling) to hanging out together at Grandpa's to friendly bickering to facing down Coutelle's goons, all of whom were armed to the teeth at the time.

Crow Horse: So what happens to Cooch [Coutelle] now?
Levoi: Internal Security Investigation.
Crow Horse: You mean whitewash.
Levoi: "Do not file." But I'm gonna get ahold of Maggie's media contacts. We'll see what kind of a story we can tell.

I include this quote because it implies two things. One: that Levoi, despite the things he has seen, will not run away from what he's discovered on the reservation. In light of this, perhaps his leaving at the end of the movie can be interpreted as going back to DC to tie up whatever loose ends remain and then coming back - to his people, to a different life that would matter to those around him, to Crow Horse. Two: that Levoi is still thinking of himself and Crow Horse as being partners, even though they've solved the murder and helped drive off a greedy asshole bent on destroying the land and killing the people.

By the last frame, they have become friends, two people who can have the following exchange with all possible sincerity.

Crow Horse: If you ever need a place to come back to - you know, listen to the wind, we'll be here.
Levoi: Listen, uh -
Crow Horse: Hey, there ain't no word in Sioux for goodbye.

In the end, to steal a line from Hard Core Logo, it's love.

well well well, the washington redskin

My story, sadly, is rather shallow. As you may have noticed, I have a terrible infatuation with Graham Greene, for whom I suffered through DWW. I happened to see the movie box as I was cleaning up around the video store where I work and, lo and behold if the man himself weren't right on the cover. Deciding that finding the box was fate, I took it home to watch on a whim, not really expecting to see or hear anything of importance in the movie's two-hour run.

Two hours later, I was shaken to the bone. The final scene of the movie is of Levoi driving away from the reservation, away from Crow Horse, and back to the bustle of his former life, back to living on autopilot and being a person he despises. I wondered about the ramifications of Native Americans petitioning the government for their treaty rights, which had been unlawfully stolen from them over the course of our interaction with the various tribes. I wondered how much it would cost to rent again, possibly for several days.

The second time I watched it (the next day, if you must know; I told you it was sad), I wondered about the relationship between Levoi and Crow Horse. The quotation above, where Crow Horse comments that Levoi would love to fuck him, was sort of sticking in my craw. I wondered if Levoi would ever return to the reservation, and I wondered what his reception would be.

The third time I watched it, I flailed over the epic true love of Crow Horse and Levoi. Back to the shallow part again.

So why do I 'ship them? Because of the shared smiles and the bantering. Because of how deeply they seem to care for each other by the end of the movie. Because of Levoi's hesitant tone when he tries to say goodbye to Crow Horse. Because of Crow Horse's concern for Levoi after Grandpa says they must go to Red Deer Table, and because of how he touches Levoi throughout that scene - an arm around the shoulders, a hand on Levoi's elbow. Because of Levoi denouncing the government, much as he had done earlier with regards to the Sioux during a conversation with Coutelle, when he says to Crow Horse, "They are not my people." Because Levoi is a man between lives and Crow Horse could help him start one that would make him happy. Because Crow Horse invites Levoi to come back whenever he wants, implying that he would be waiting for a call or a visit, and that if neither of them came he would be disappointed. Because of the way Levoi watches Crow Horse, especially in the powwow scene, and how he watched him walk away as if he would have liked nothing better than to follow him.

And finally, because Graham Greene is a hotass.

the hundred epic stories written about their big gay love

*pauses*

I did mention that only three people in the entire world had seen this movie, right?