Robinson Devor’s Pow Wow, which opens tonight at Facets for a weeklong run, is a compact and provocative documentary about Americans’ relationship to history. Running just 75 minutes, the film covers plenty of thematic ground, considering the legend of Chemehuevi-Paiute Indian “Willie Boy,” the transformation of California’s Coachella Valley into a suburban environment, the present-day experience of Khaweya Indians (who live on a reservation in the Valley), and the habits of well-to-do whites in the suburban community. Devor subtitled the film “Ethnographic Encounters With the People of the Desert Empire (2010–2015)” and divided it into short chapters with academic headers like “Rites and Rituals.” Pow Wow advances a curious, if somewhat detached perspective that befits an ethnographic study, whether Devor is looking at a Native American reservation, a golf course, or a car dealership. The insights are sometimes wry and sometimes saddening, but always compelling.
Pow Wow Showtimes here. Facets Cinematheque, 1517 W. Fullerton, 773-281-4114, facets.org.
