Country clubbers, workers, lovers, rivals, gods, ghosts, Hollywood retirees, Native Americans, Hispanics, whites, the fleeting and the eternal, the deep and the dead, the people behind the gates, all mix up in this chronicle of a dying American joy. Using modern-day characters to illuminate an infamous 1908 manhunt for Willie Boy, a Native American who outran a mounted posse on foot across 500 miles of desert in the Coachella Valley, Pow Wow presents individuals that have, in many ways, utilized the desert to survive and run free.
"‘Pow Wow’, starring Robert Knoop, Byron Grace, Ronald House, Antonio Heredia Jr., and Ann Heavey on April 18, 2023. Directed by acclaimed filmmaker Robinson Devor (Zoo, Police Beat, The Woman Chaser) ‘Pow Wow’ is an ethereal photographic essay of Palm Springs and the Coachella Valley of California and the people who live there. Shot over the course of five years, the thematically complex documentary does not rely on a traditional narrative and instead portrays an epic cross-section of inhabitants and places. Inspired by Errol Morris’ Vernon, Florida, and Werner Herzog’s Fata Morgana, Devor lets the Coachella Valley assume the leading role as DP Sean Kirby (Happy Valley, The Tillman Story, Zoo) basks in the desolate beauty of the Sonoran Desert. ‘Pow Wow’ is a visual feast, exploring provocative and peculiar conversations, including the implications of the Native American Cahuilla Indians living on one of the largest aquifers in California, and how a desert can be home to more than 130 luxury golf courses. “Pow Wow is meant to be an homage without the restraint of having to tell a particular story or focus on any individual,” says Devor. “My goal was to capture Palm Springs in all of its eccentric, stunning wonderfulness.”"
"Pow Wow" or the alternate title: “Ethnographic Encounters With the People of the Desert Empire (2010–2015)”) is a documentary film that plays across the duality of cultures within Palm Springs and at points it's a scene that many would likely not want to be in earshot of; namely country club blokes who still call us, "Indians" as they act like golf courses that suck up potable water is a life necessity. It was uncomfortable at many points and spends most of its time with these types in particular. For a film entitled "Pow Wow" I would have expected more Indigenous voices to be involved but alas we get only a blip of that time spent with the Khaweya people. But I also think that was the quiet point, a great and bitter irony unfolds as it focuses upon a co-opted event where we see white women truss themselves up in dollar store value Pocahontas gear. It is jarring. We also get to hear white men talk about how Indigenous people basically no longer exist whilst speaking on our behalf like an NPC in Elder Scrolls speaks of the Dwemer. It's ultimately quite alienating and questionable as to the necessity of it being done at all, aside from serving the purpose of being a shocking revelation to the rest of the world that, yes, California has an overabundance of such types just like anywhere else.
The documentary was filmed over the course of five years by director Robinson Devor, who is also a film professor at Cornish College of the Arts. I have to believe that everything about this project was intentional, giving us the awkward insight that Borat brought to us, which like Pow Wow, was inspired by Werner Herzog's Fata Morgana. Unlike Borat there is no intentional comedic relief unless you're the type to laugh at the absurdity of ignorance, truly the perspective is likened to spending a holiday with your friend's racist family who will fight you with the ladle clad in mashed potatoes should you call them out for it.
The story is everywhere and nowhere all at once, like a fly on the wall, we get these glimpses into these people's lives, and see how each individual chooses to translate the story of Willie Boy, a Paiute-Chemehuevi man who was, according to the lore, in love with his underaged cousin and in an effort to run away with her, he killed her disapproving father. He was hunted down & ultimately killed due to incest laws & of course, the murder. There are cuts of the 1960's film Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here, starring Italian American aquited for femicide actor, Robert Blake, who was famous for playing Latino & Indigenous characters.
The film was informative, and serves its purpose in an unassuming way which I feel is the talent of Robinson Devor, who created something for each viewer to interpret based upon our subjective perspectives, as any documentary should.