Lakota Woman: Siege at Wounded Knee

The near-fatal collision with the train serves as a wake-up call that makes Mary realize her aimless drifting life is pointless and dangerous. Having survived what could have been her death, she chooses to commit herself to collective action rather than individual survival. This moment marks her shift from passive victimhood to active resistance, leading her to seek out the American Indian Movement.

Earlier, Mary experiences a series of aimless encounters and near-misses that foreshadow this turning point.

Mary is expelled after she discovers a newspaper titled "Americans Before Columbus!" that describes the violence of colonization against Native peoples. Inspired by this awakening to historical injustice, she prints out papers urging other Indian students at the boarding school to reject assimilation and reclaim their land. When teachers discover these materials, they expel her for challenging the school's forced assimilation agenda.

The boarding school systematically suppresses Lakota language and culture, building tension for Mary's act of defiance.

The 1973 Occupation of Wounded Knee was a 71-day armed standoff between American Indian Movement activists and federal authorities, marking the first major organized protest for Native American rights since the 1890 massacre at the same site. Activists occupied the town to protest government policies, demand treaty rights, and draw national attention to Native American struggles. The occupation represented a direct reclamation of land and voice, connecting contemporary resistance to historical trauma.

Mary's grandfather Fool Bull recounts the 1890 Wounded Knee massacre at the film's opening, establishing the historical significance of this location.

Barbra runs away from St. Tristan Boarding School because the years of forced assimilation, suppression of their language, and erasure of cultural memory become unbearable. The boarding school actively works to strip Lakota identity from its students, and Barbra chooses to escape rather than continue losing her sense of self. Her departure leaves Mary to face the oppressive system alone, further destabilizing her identity.

The boarding school sequences show the daily erosion of Lakota culture through language bans and imposed white practices.

Mary's motivation comes from reading a newspaper given to her by a white girl named Nadine, titled "Americans Before Columbus!" The paper details the rape and looting of Indian lands throughout colonial history. This exposure to the true history of colonization ignites a sense of injustice and historical awareness within her, compelling her to act by creating materials that encourage other Native students to reject white assimilation and reclaim their heritage and land.

Before this moment, Mary has passively accepted the boarding school's narrative, making this discovery a pivotal awakening.

After escaping an attempted rape while hitchhiking, Mary is rescued by Webster who offers her a ride and invites her to join his crew of drifters. Having faced danger, racism, and rejection in her attempts to find work, Mary is drawn to the temporary sense of belonging and community that Webster's group provides. The drifters offer her solidarity and survival in numbers during a period when she has no other stable connections.

Earlier, Mary faces racism at the tribal office and discovers her mother living in white society, both failures of finding belonging.

The siege unfolds as AIM activists, including Mary, occupy the town of Wounded Knee for 71 days, demanding government accountability for broken treaties and systemic oppression. The standoff involves armed activists holding the town against federal marshals and FBI agents who surround the area. Throughout the siege, participants face constant danger from sniper fire, limited supplies, and the looming threat of violent confrontation. The occupation ends with authorities reclaiming the town and arresting many participants, including Mary.

Mary's decision to join AIM after the train collision directly leads to her participation in this event.

Mary discovers she is pregnant during the siege, adding deeply personal stakes to her political participation. Despite the constant danger, sniper fire, and risk of arrest, she chooses to remain at Wounded Knee with her comrades rather than flee to safety. Her pregnancy symbolizes the continuation of Indigenous life and resistance against the historical attempts at extermination, linking the struggle to future generations.

The film emphasizes the historical context of cultural genocide, making pregnancy a counter-narrative to erasure.

Fool Bull recounts the 1890 massacre because the traumatic event remains a defining part of his memory and family history. His stories connect Mary's personal identity to the broader historical violence inflicted upon the Lakota people. By sharing these memories, he ensures the younger generation understands the long history of oppression, keeping alive the cultural memory that the boarding schools try to erase. This narrative frame establishes why Wounded Knee carries such profound significance for the 1973 occupation.

This early scene directly foreshadows the 1973 occupation, as activists choose the same site to make a stand.

Mary travels to the Oglala Tribal Office in Pine Ridge seeking employment, accompanied by her aunt Elsie Flood. Despite her qualifications and connection to the community, she faces overt racism as managers refuse to hire Native Americans. This encounter highlights the systemic prejudice that persists even within tribal institutions and demonstrates how economic marginalization forces Native people into precarious situations.

Earlier, Mary returns from boarding school with no viable skills or connections in the modern economy due to forced assimilation.

The 1973 occupation directly references the 1890 massacre at Wounded Knee, where U.S. soldiers killed approximately 150-300 Lakota men, women, and children. By occupying the same site 83 years later, AIM activists intentionally chose a location loaded with historical trauma to symbolize their resistance against continued oppression. The 1973 standoff serves as a reclamation of the land and a declaration that Indigenous people would no longer be silenced or displaced, echoing the spirits of their ancestors who were murdered there.

Fool Bull's opening narrative about the 1890 massacre establishes this historical parallel from the film's beginning.

After being expelled from boarding school and failing to find work, Mary embarks on a personal odyssey to find her mother, who is living in a white-dominated community with a white partner. This search reflects Mary's desperate attempt to find stable grounding and familial connection in a world that has repeatedly rejected her. When she discovers her mother has assimilated into white society, it deepens Mary's sense of fractured identity and reinforces her feeling of belonging nowhere.

The boarding school has already eroded Mary's cultural identity, making her search for maternal connection both desperate and doomed.

Mary leaves the drifter lifestyle after experiencing a near-fatal collision with a train, which serves as a powerful turning point. The accident makes her realize that aimless drifting offers no real purpose or future. Having already been through boarding school trauma, attempted rape, and failed attempts at finding work or belonging, she decides to channel her energy into collective political action rather than individual survival. AIM offers her a sense of purpose and community that the drifters never could.

Webster's group is explicitly described as drifting "as aimlessly as the road they travel," signaling this lifestyle is unsustainable.