"Spirit Rider" is very predictable, so liking this Canadian First Nations movie depends on liking the actors. I am a major fan of Adam Beach (Flags of Our Fathers, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee). I thought that "Squanto" (1994) was his first major part, but in fact "Spirit Rider" 1993) was. Beach has played a number of roles as a Navaho (Jim Chee in three Hillerman mystery adaptation, Windtalkers, Flags of Our Father), East Coast and West Coast natives (Squanto, Luna and Last Stop, respectively), but began more or less at home among the Anishinabe (Ojibwe) in "Spirit Rider," playing a high-school student who had been repatriated two years before and had gone ultra-

The (CBC television) movie begins with another Anishinabe, Jesse Threebears (Herbie Barnes) raising hell in a Canadian city that I assume is Winnipeg.  He is a daredevil bicyclist who puts in ten miles a day in training for the Tour de France. He does not want to be put on a reservation, especially when he finds his grandfather's trailer lacks electricity to play his boombox. He is as ostentatiously rejecting of reservation ways as  Paul is embracing of them.

There are other reasons for Paul to reject the newcomer, including the interest that Camilla St. Claire (Michelle St. John), the belle who was already ignoring his advances, takes in Jesse. She welcomes and helps Jesse as much as Paul derides and torments (on motorcycle or horse).

Jesse tries the patience of his grandfather, Joe Moon (Gordon Tootoosis), but between prison and guilt over the death of Jesse's mother when Jesse was two, Joe has patience and has grown into "the wise old Indian."

Everything converges on an annual horse race. Joe and Jesse recapture a black horse Joe used to own. Both Camilla and Paul are experienced riders against whom the newbie will race. I could easily predict the winner and the source of villainy in the race, and if I'd stopped to think about how the movie would end, I'd have predicted it, too.

Still, I enjoyed the unpushy wisdom of Camille, the flailings of Jesse, and when the young Adam Beach was playing bratty, he was very sexy with shark-white teeth, burning hawk eyes, and cheekbones that could cut glass. Beach was tall, dark, and handsome (since then he has put on some weight). Barnes was more a fireplug: short and solid with lighter skin. St. Claire was short but quite attractive, even if Beach had the sleekest hair of the three leads. (Beach and St. John appeared together in "Smoke Signals"; Beach and Barnes in the CBC series "The Rez." and in "Dance Me Outside").

The adults acquit themselves well. As often, I enjoy the wry humor of Graham Greene (an Oneida from further east in Canada), who plays a local radio announcer who is raising Paul herein. (Greene has also been with Beach in "Luna," the Hillerman adaptations, "Lonesome Dove" though best known for his part in "Dances with Wolves."
The movie was based on a novel by Mary-Ellen Lang Collura, a Vancouver school teacher, so this engaging if predictable coming-of-age drama is definitely fodder for Elvisdo's 2009 Canadiana writeoff!

©2009, Stephen O. Murray

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 9 - 12