The iconic true story of Te Ata, Mary Thompson Fisher, the Chickasaw storyteller and goodwill ambassador for the Indian tribes of the early 1900s is wonderfully and emotionally recreated by Producer Paul Sirmonds and Director Nathan Frankowski.
Te Ata was born into the post-Civil War era at a time when the U.S. Government had withdrawn government funds to and nullified treaties with the Indian tribes of Indian Territory as punishment for fighting on the side of the Confederacy. Te Ata, which means "Bearer of the Morning" was her childhood nickname and one she took as a stage name as she pursued a theatrical career which took her all the way to Broadway in the 1920s.
Though she was achieving success on the outside, an emptiness was growing on the inside. The white man who fell in love with her, Clyde Fisher was another guileless soul. It was he who helped her find her true voice and calling—to be an ambassador of goodwill by telling the stories of her people and the Indian tribes of America. Te Ata's talents led her to perform at the White House for President Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, with whom she became great friends. She even entertained the king and queen of England at the behest of the Roosevelts.
Te Ata's story, as well as Clyde's, is one of defeating the prejudices and animosities of the past by successfully finding a new common ground of friendship between the races. Her weapon was entertainment and her arrows were that of humor, wit, song and story. What a much-needed and inspirational example to point our nation out of the quagmire of racial tensions America faces.
Q'orianka Kilcher, of The New World fame, played the lead role with a sincere depth of emotion and strength that had me reaching for the tissues more than once. Gil Birmingham, who played her over-protective father, T.B. Thompson, was blessed by writers, Jeannie Barbour and Esther Luttrell with a golden apple role full of great one-liners and humorous reactions to unfolding events.
Kenneth Wood kenw7@att.net
Te Ata was born into the post-Civil War era at a time when the U.S. Government had withdrawn government funds to and nullified treaties with the Indian tribes of Indian Territory as punishment for fighting on the side of the Confederacy. Te Ata, which means "Bearer of the Morning" was her childhood nickname and one she took as a stage name as she pursued a theatrical career which took her all the way to Broadway in the 1920s.
Though she was achieving success on the outside, an emptiness was growing on the inside. The white man who fell in love with her, Clyde Fisher was another guileless soul. It was he who helped her find her true voice and calling—to be an ambassador of goodwill by telling the stories of her people and the Indian tribes of America. Te Ata's talents led her to perform at the White House for President Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, with whom she became great friends. She even entertained the king and queen of England at the behest of the Roosevelts.
Te Ata's story, as well as Clyde's, is one of defeating the prejudices and animosities of the past by successfully finding a new common ground of friendship between the races. Her weapon was entertainment and her arrows were that of humor, wit, song and story. What a much-needed and inspirational example to point our nation out of the quagmire of racial tensions America faces.
Q'orianka Kilcher, of The New World fame, played the lead role with a sincere depth of emotion and strength that had me reaching for the tissues more than once. Gil Birmingham, who played her over-protective father, T.B. Thompson, was blessed by writers, Jeannie Barbour and Esther Luttrell with a golden apple role full of great one-liners and humorous reactions to unfolding events.
Kenneth Wood kenw7@att.net