TONYA MOSLEY, HOST:
This is FRESH AIR. A new entry in the PBS "Independent Lens" series of documentary films is called "Without Arrows." It's about Delwin Fiddler Jr., a Native American member of the Lakota Sioux Tribe, who returns home after years in Philadelphia to visit his family on their South Dakota reservation. The filmmakers of "Without Arrows" accompanied Delwin on his journey and kept revisiting him over more than a decade. Our TV critic David Bianculli has this review.
DAVID BIANCULLI, BYLINE: The last time "Independent Lens" presented a film by director Jonathan Olshefski was in 2017. That documentary was called "Quest," which showed the life of an African American couple living in north Philadelphia - everyday life - captured for over a decade and condensed into a film about family, aspirations and setbacks, and sudden unexpected events. It managed to be simultaneously very specific and universally relatable. There was something about having the patience to spend that much time with your subject and to go wherever events took you that made "Quest" a very special movie and an equally special viewing experience.
And now Olshefski is back with another documentary for "Independent Lens," filmed in a similar fashion over a total of 13 years. Once again, he tells the story of a family and a culture not usually represented on TV or film with this amount of respect and care. This time, it's called "Without Arrows," and it's the story of Delwin Fiddler Jr., a member of the Lakota Sioux Tribe. At the time we meet him, in 2011, Delwin is living in Philadelphia, running a company that teaches and performs Native ritual dances. After more than a decade away, he decides to return to the Sioux Tribe reservation in South Dakota, where his parents and other relatives still live. Olshefski went along to record the family reunion, envisioning it as a short film, but Delwin decided to stay and "Without Arrows" became a much larger project with a much deeper vision and message. As the film grew in scope, Olshefski teamed with a co-director, Elizabeth Day, a Native American from the Ojibwe nation in Minnesota. Her input and Olshefski's up close and personal filming style combined to make "Without Arrows" feel less like filmmakers observing from the outside in and more like candid, honest snippets of family life from the inside out. We see moments of simple joy - a water balloon fight with the young nieces and nephews or card games of gin rummy that give Delwin's mother joy throughout the years we spend with her. We see beauty in the landscape and the horses and in the eventual introduction of a new generation of the Fiddler family. But we also see hardship and tragedy from violent thunderstorms to periodic additions to the family graveyard. And shortly after Delwin jr. returns home, his mother Shirley informs him of the duties she expects him to embrace.
(SOUNDBITE OF DOCUMENTARY, "WITHOUT ARROWS")
SHIRLEY EAGLETAIL FIDDLER: Now you have to learn of the sun dances. You have to learn of the prayers, the songs that go with the prayers and the inipi. There's a lot of youth that needs prayers. A lot of these youth are suicidal. These are the ones that need help. Now, can you do this? Now, you're 30 now. See, that's the responsibility you have to do now.
BIANCULLI: Even though Delwin's father, Delwin sr., is still around, he's a quiet character, who's great fun to watch, especially when tending horses are playing with his grandchildren. It's the mother who knows and recounts most of the family history. Their lineage can be traced back to the Battle of Little Bighorn and beyond, and they're now the custodians of the Lakota ceremonial pipe from that battle. In Lakota language, that pipe is called the channunpa, and Shirley displays it and old photographs of their ancestors with pride.
(SOUNDBITE OF DOCUMENTARY, "WITHOUT ARROWS")
S FIDDLER: This is an old picture that my grandma Hannah Elk Head kept. This is Elias Elk Head right here. He was the chosen next keeper of the pipe. During the Little Bighorn Battle. And they defeated the battle, and we're still here today. And we are still descendants from each keeper of the channunpa.
BIANCULLI: The personal history of the Fiddlers gets even more personal when Delwin jr., in a pensive moment alone with the filmmakers, talks about an event from his own adolescence. When you hear it, you suddenly understand why both Delwin and his mother are so concerned about legacy and family.
(SOUNDBITE OF DOCUMENTARY, "WITHOUT ARROWS")
DELWIN FIDDLER JR: When my little brother shot himself and - changed a lot - and changed our family a whole bunch. My little brother died in my arms. To sit there and to watch your little brother bleed and die in your arms, and you can't even do a damn thing about it, it's not every day a 14-year-old would see.
BIANCULLI: The evidence that time heals runs throughout "Without Arrows," but so do many other messages. Olshefski and Day present them beautifully and clearly, yet with subtlety. There's no narration and no talking-head historians, just the images and the people on film to teach you about life, love, commitment and perseverance. In "Without Arrows," they do so in an emotionally powerful fashion.
MOSLEY: David Bianculli is professor of television studies at Rowan University. He reviewed "Without Arrows," part of the "Independent Lens" series, now streaming on PBS. On the next FRESH AIR, how Louis Armstrong became the first Black pop star and musician who provided the foundational language of improvisation. We talk with Ricky Riccardi, author of "Stomp Off, Let's Go: The Early Years Of Louis Armstrong." I hope you can join us.
(SOUNDBITE OF LOUIS ARMSTRONG'S "MAHOGANY HALL STOMP")
MOSLEY: To keep up with what's on the show and get highlights of our interviews, follow us on Instagram at @nprfreshair. FRESH AIR's executive producer is Danny Miller. Our managing producer is Sam Briger. Our technical director and engineer is Audrey Bentham. Special thanks to Jose Llanas and Conor Anderson from WDET for additional engineering help. Our interviews and reviews are produced and edited by Phyllis Myers, Ann Marie Baldonado, Lauren Krenzel, Therese Madden, Monique Nazareth, Thea Chaloner, Susan Nyakundi and Anna Bauman. Our digital media producer is Molly Seavy-Nesper. Roberta Shorrock directs the show. With Terry Gross, I'm Tonya Mosley.
(SOUNDBITE OF LOUIS ARMSTRONG'S "MAHOGANY HALL STOMP") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR鈥檚 programming is the audio record.
