"Most of the film depictions of Native Americans Neil Diamond (not the “Sweet Caroline” Neil Diamond) saw growing up were old school. So was his reaction.

He came of age in the Quebec Cree community of Waskaganish, a 16-hour drive Montreal.

“We didn’t have a road out of the community until about six years ago or something, so it was very isolated,” he said. “You could only get there by plane or by ship or by snowmobile in winter. We didn’t get TV until I was about 17 years old, so all we had for entertainment was the local storytellers. And every weekend, the church would show movies in the community hall or in the church basement.”

Diamond’s documentary “Reel Injun,” an examination of Hollywood’s treatment of Native Americans through the years, airs at 9 p.m. Tuesday (November 2) as an “Independent Lens” offering on WYES-Channel 12.

In it, he draws on many of the films from Hollywood antiquity he watched while coming of age in Waskaganish. Naturally, the audience cheered for the good guys. Diamond didn’t realize until later what that meant."

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'Reel Injun' documentary explores Hollywood's view of Native Americans (The New Orleans Times-Picayune 11/3)