178
people found this helpful, as of 2023
ranked #193,985 most helpful
out of 571,544,897 reviews
★★★★★
excellent on many levels
This film is a must see for many reasons, primarily because it documents the very end of the ~15,000 year legacy of free Native Americans on this continent: "Ishi," the last Yahi and free ranging Native American is forced by circumstance to enter modern civilization in the early 20th Century in California. The historical significance alone makes it worth seeing.
Beyond that, Graham Greene and Jon Voight give outstanding and moving performances. Greene (who is always excellent - Clearcut, Thunderheart, Dances With Wolves, etc.) as Ishi, and Voight as the genius anthropologist who takes him in.
Voight's character is a pure scientist through and through who finds it difficult to get emotionally involved with much of anything. He prefers to look at the world in terms of evidence and hard data. He is distant as his wife is dying, and Ishi tells him (paraphrasing) 'you put me in your book, but not in your heart.'
