Trickster Raven Deserves a Movie

Northwest Coast Indians have an amazing visual art tradition--one of the most developed of any indigenous peoples in the world. Cultures like the Haida in British Columbia have an astounding history of a complex visual language. Bill Reid, the most famous Haida artist--and possibly the most famous native artist--of the 20th century said this:

Art can never be understood, but can only be seen as a kind of magic, the most profound and mysterious of all human activities. Within that magic, one of the deepest mysteries is the art of the Northwest Coast -- a unique expression of an illiterate people, resembling no other art form except perhaps the most sophisticated calligraphy.

But more than a calligraphy (which, it seems references the symbology employed in his and other Haida work), the masks, carvings and work of the North Coast Indians are a full language in of themselves, acting as visual reminders for the legends and stories handed down.

The first time I saw Reid's astonishing Spirit of Haida Gwaii at the Vancouver airport, I could swear it was moving in front of me. It's practically alive with motion. You can sit and just watch it, which I've had the pleasure of doing a few times. You can imagine it alive.

So here we have a culture, long in story and rich in visuals. Why no Indian mythology movie? I would see it set long before Europeans. Instead we have a story of a man, maybe--and let's say that he is confronted with the creation stories. He's confronted with Raven, but Raven is created in CG, and appears as a moving, breathing Reid sculpture. His dreams or visions are alive to him. Give him this world to run around in, a quest to complete, and throw in some views of authentic life on the North Coast before the white people came in, and you've got a compelling film. I'd pay to see it in a heartbeat.

It seems an obvious thing to me, but maybe that's just showing my own naiveté. Would this work? Is there any reason it couldn't? Think of the recent slate of visual arresting films coming out of China based on Chinese mythology and history (I'm still waiting for the Zheng He movie, but I won't hold my breath). Wouldn't one in the same spirit about the Northwest Coast Indians be just as cool?