Gordon-11 This film tells the story of a native American woman who discovers that her schizophrenic mother is actually a victim of a scheme of widespread abuse, torture and a massive cover up at an institutional level.Even after reading the synopsis of the plot, I was still unprepared for the atrocities portrayed in the film. I have little knowledge in native American history, and the events portrayed truly shocks me. I'm sadly reminded of a similar film but set in a different country, "Rabbit Proof Fence". I'm glad to see justice is portrayed, and healing occurs. The plot itself is quite good, it's engaging because it mixes romance with drama and supernatural elements. I enjoyed it.Bradley Cooper's character is a bit redundant and out of place with the plot. It feels as if his character is added to the plot after the plot is written. Anyway, despite the apparently low budget, " Older Than America " is a good film and deserves to be watched.

ajbird The main subject of this film i.e. the attempted destruction of Native American culture and identity is a really important subject matter. So why has this been cheapened by using it as the plot to a two bit ghost story?As other reviewers have stated.. the acting is shocking, the dialogue child-like and the plot is all over the place. I am still not sure why the geologist character was in the film at all. At the start he saw a vision of a dead friend of his.. this is never again mentioned as the film progresses. There is a bizarre murder of an official which plays no significance to the rest of the film. The whole thing is bizarre.The money put into this would have been far better spent on creating a documentary examining the real impact of real live characters who were abused by the system featured in the film.As a Brit I know almost nothing about modern native American culture.. after watching this film this is still the case. It just seemed to be filled with as many clichés as I would see in Twilight or other 'fantasy' films featuring Native Americans.

wes-connors In Minnesota, modernized Native American couple Georgina Lightning (as Rain) and Adam Beach (as John "Johnny" Goodfeather) are troubled by her nightmarish visions. With help from visiting geologist Bradley Cooper (as Luke Patterson), they uncover some mysterious events. "Older Than America" is an issue-oriented film, it explores / exposes the United States government's policy of taking Native American children away from families and reservations in order to assimilate.The emphasis is on making these children Christian (using abominable force). Writer/director Lightning's topic is commendable, but the use of the supernatural does not work; that even Mr. Cooper, in town to investigate an earthquake, has visions perpetuates myths of different color. This can work well in drama, just not this time. The song played over the end credits, "Someone Call an Angel Down" written and performed by Derek Miller, provides a haunting coda.***** Older Than America (3/8/08) Georgina Lightning ~ Georgina Lightning, Adam Beach, Bradley Cooper, Tantoo Cardinal

dinky-4 The story of American Indian boarding schools needs to be told. In the past Indian children were taken from their parents, often forcibly, and put into highly-regimented schools designed to eradicate all signs of their "savagery." Use of Indian languages in these schools was forbidden and harshly punished.This movie probably should have been a "period place" showing the experiences of an Indian child thrust into the soul-killing world of the boarding school. Perhaps it was feared this approach would limit the size of the audience. In any case we get a modern-day story, set in northern Minnesota, in which a boarding school is glimpsed only occasionally in brief flashbacks. Surrounding these flashbacks lies a plot cluttered with a bewildering number of elements: the arrogance of the Catholic Church, shock treatments, commercial development of sacred Indian lands, an election for mayor pitting a white man against a red man, gambling casinos, a love story, hallucinations and visions, family secrets leading to tensions, a bizarre crucifixion-style murder, etc. There's even a subplot involving a geologist investigating earthquakes! All this clutter is unnecessary and self-defeating because the story which the movie wants to tell is strong enough as it is. It doesn't need to be "packaged" with elements which tend to detract from it rather than enhance it.