“War Pony” (2022) is a movie that could be distinguished by its so-called “realness”. Little special effects, a plot without a happy ending, and characters who are not the over-idealized version of archaic human exemplars. The scenography gives us the feeling as if the camera was simply following the people of Pine Ridge Reservation in their daily routines. Usually, directors play with a color range that constitutes a great aspect of the production. With the most recent realization by Gammell and Keough, this kind of psychological trick on the viewers is rather undetectable, if present at all. The plot simply speaks for itself and does not require any additional tools to facilitate the overall flow of messages. Yet, it is an apparatus in itself, destined to reveal the obscure community struggle in the current societal structure of the United States. 

The plot presents the daily life events of the inhabitants of the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota for Native Americans. As “War Pony” displays, it is one of those places where drugs might be more important than human life. Kids become adults due to the constant surrounding of violence and extreme poverty. The latter, sooner or later, become their motive to commit a number of offenses, such as theft or dealing. Yet, their parents are at the very end of the same path and barely aim for their children not to join them there. 

Each individual from Pine Ridge intended to escape the route followed by his fellow neighbors or family members, believing to be the one who would achieve the actual realization of the so-called “American Dream”. However, the very result of this chase brought them all to the dead end of societal order where one can only live happily ever after if their money, power, and glory provide them with so. For others, such as the characters of “War Pony”, those distant notions merely remain as the mindset that allows them to conserve peace of mind in the obscure reality they were facing.  The ambitious aspirations took them to the peak of poverty and degradation. It was a path constituted by those with influence and money to achieve all greater success by enslaving their courageous dreams by fraudulent appropriation. The lives of Pine Ridge inhabitants, since the very beginning, were subject to the material interests external upper class and the means to achieve them.

Nevertheless, “War Pony”, from the mere technical point of view, could have been much better. Despite the great morale it provides and the passionate storyline, it lacks a spark that would distinguish it from all the other movies with a similar concept. However, the perception of the spark in question is a very subjective notion. that will probably depend on a person’s personal background or experiences with such a type of history. Yet, the relativity of the movie impression is another aspect contributing to its “realness” and “authenticity”. 

Written by Agata Zagozdzon