Annie Mae, brave hearted woman

This disturbing and unforgettable documentary is a portrait of Annie Mae Pictou Aquash – what she lived for and ultimately died for. A dedicated young native American woman, Annie Mae was an activist in the ongoing struggle for Human Rights. A year after the 1973 uprising at Wounded Knee, she was found dead on the prairie in South Dakota. The FBI report said she died of exposure. A second autopsy indicated a gunshot wound in the back of her head. This award-winning program explores the events leading to Annie Mae’s death and investigates her unsolved murder. Excerpts from her letters and interviews with relatives and friends create and intimate portrait of a courageous woman. The film presents Annie Mae’s story against the historical background of the Wounded Knee occupation and other incidents, such as the Jumping Bull shootout. The overwhelming strength of the evidence suggests that Annie Mae’s death was a politically motivated murder. “... the kind of film that does not go away. And surely it is the strongest statement ever made on film about the way this country deals with the people we displaced, the Indians”. – Michael Kerman, The Washington Post.