House Made Of Dawn

Year releasted: 1987

by Nathan Rabin
April 24th, 2002

With the possible exceptions of Vietnam veterans and ex-cons, few groups are as cinematically angst-prone as Native Americans. But what happens to a poor soul belonging to all three groups? If House Made Of Dawn is any indication, the answer is industrial-sized disillusionment, combined with seething hostility toward a world gone mad and a predilection for shirtless running. Adapted from N. Scott Momaday's novel, House Made Of Dawn stars Larry Littlebird as a sulky Native American who loses his bearings after his saintly grandfather dies, leaving Littlebird in a state of freeze-frame-prompting ennui. Lost and listless, he's driven to fatally stab a black-clad figure with the none-too-reassuring nickname of "Diablo," after Diablo humiliates Littlebird by savagely beating him with a chicken. Following a seven-year stint in the big house, Littlebird heads to Los Angeles for a fresh start, but soon discovers that the world can be a cruel place for sullen, Native American, ex-convict Vietnam veterans. At the invitingly titled Indian Welcome House, Littlebird encounters a speech by fiery preacher John Saxon, who eschews practical advice in favor of metaphysical rambling and longwinded discussions of language and the nature of civilization. There, Littlebird also meets a pretty white caseworker, whom he woos and wins by irreverently donning a pair of red-white-and-blue sunglasses and awkwardly attempting a Chaplin-esque shuffle. Littlebird finds true love, but he's haunted by increasingly pretentious flashbacks involving endless stretches of shirtless running and Diablo's unnerving habit of randomly turning into a snake. A Saxon-led evening of peyote, face-paint, and prayer revives Littlebird's spiritual faith, but when he trades blows with an abusive cop, he's forced to re-examine his options. Tired of the unforgiving city and fearful of retribution, Littlebird catches a bus home, setting off for an inevitably brighter future in which he's free to run shirtless to his heart's content.