Documentary filmmaker Drury Gunn Carr doesn’t seem to
mind a little violence. Past projects with fellow producer Doug
Hawes-Davis record coyote extermination (HCN, 7/31/00: Killing
Coyote), wild horse harassment (HCN, 8/13/01: On the trail of an
“exotic” native) and prairie dog shooting (HCN, 1/18/99: Another
dog done gone) with a grim, unflinching
eye.
Thankfully, Gunn Carr’s first foray into
Native American issues, called Wind River, has
no body count. But it’s equally affecting: You walk away
incensed.
Despite holding the oldest – and best –
water rights in Riverton Valley, Wyo., the Shoshone tribe isn’t
allowed to send water downstream to restore fish runs, although
farmers upstream legally inundate fields. The 34-minute documentary
chronicles the tribe’s legal battle to change Wyoming water law, a
bid that in 1991 went all the way to the state Supreme Court and
failed.
As in earlier films, memorable characters
tell the story: the Shoshone elder, the sugar beet farmer, and the
chief justice who speaks with a smile of the tribe’s predicament:
“That’s what happens when (your ancestors) lose” a war with the
U.S. Afterward, it’s hard not to side with the
Shoshones.
When asked about his goal for
Wind River, Gunn Carr is modest. “I think it’s
sort of a primer to show this is a common issue throughout the
West.”
To get involved, e-mail Dick Baldes of
Wind River Alliance Group, rbaldes@wyoming.com.
To purchase the $20 video, call High Plains Films at 406/543-6726,
or e-mail dru@wildrockies.org.
Copyright © 2001 HCN and Rachel Jackson
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline A water tale to set you on fire.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
