Crying Earth Rise Up 2015
Distributed by Documentary Educational Resources, 101 Morse Street, Watertown, MA 02472; 617-926-0491
Produced by Courtney Hermann
Directed by Suree Towfighnia
Streaming, 57 mins
Middle School - General Adult
Activism; Environmentalism; Native Americans
Date Entered: 06/19/2020
Reviewed by Jaquair L. Gillette, Actor/Filmmaker/Library PatronCrying Earth Rise Up, narrated by Tantoo Cardinal is a film that tells the aligned stories of two women, Debra White Plume and Elisha Yellow Thunder and their quest about the contamination of their families and communities from the vital life source, water. The film explores Elisha Yellow Thunder's child Laila born with medical problems in need of a kidney transplant. She tracks her daughter's health issues to her pregnancy when she unknowingly drank contaminated water from the uranium mine on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Lakota leader Debra White Plume is a lead plaintiff in a suit challenging the violation of water rights usage and the uranium mining on tribal lands.
In addition, the film details the dynamics of the political and economic influence of corporations in the mining towns of northwest Nebraska and South Dakota. We see the Nuclear Regulatory Commission siding with corporations without opposition hearing against the mining. We see in the film the contention at a local city council where lawyers and a public relations manager represented by a mining corporation make their case for the license of new mines and the decision grappling the town to allow it.
Crying Earth Rise Up is a documentary that is in the vein of previous documentaries like Ford V. Mann, that show the ongoing clash between Native American/Indigenous communities and corporations. The film captures the realities of modern-day Lakota life and the organizing that is done to save what they hold sacred. The passion and mission of a documentary like this displays a good balance of education on the subject matter and spirit of it's overall objective. This film is highly recommended to anyone who is interested or passionate about environmental activism, Native American studies and corporate influence on local economies and policies.
Awards:
Winner, John Michaels Award, Big Muddy Film Festival, 2015; Athens International Film Festival, 2015; Society for Visual Anthropology Film Festival, 2015; Portland Oregon Women's Film Festival, 2016; One Earth Film Festival, 2017 Sedona International Film Festival