On January 19, 2025, former U.S. President Joe Biden commuted the jail sentence of Leonard Peltier, permitting the Native American activist to spend the remainder of his days at house. The topic of the unanimously praised 1992 documentary Incident at Oglala, Peltier was convicted of murdering two FBI brokers in 1975 on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. Claiming innocence since his arrest, Peltier will serve the rest of his life sentence below home arrest.
Narrated by display screen legend Robert Redford, Incident at Oglala is without doubt one of the most vital American documentary movies launched previously three many years. The movie has an unblemished 100% Rotten Tomatoes rating, rating with The Skinny Blue Line as a sobering account of the American justice system. Now that Peltier is about to return house on February 18, 2025, his story deserves extra consideration.
Incident at Oglala
- Launch Date
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Might 8, 1992
- Runtime
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89 minutes
- Director
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Michael Apted
- Producers
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Arthur Chobanian
Who Is Leonard Peltier?
Leonard Peltier is an 80-year-old Native American who joined the American Indian Motion (AIM) in 1972 to advocate and lift consciousness for equal rights for the indigenous inhabitants. Peltier partly joined AIM after studying in regards to the turmoil in South Daktoa’s Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, the place a division was sowed amongst its varied constituents. Some reservation members supported the elected chair, Richard Wilson, whereas others clung to long-held Lakota tribe customs.
In 1975, Peltier joined an envoy of AIM activists to eradicate racial discrimination and political persecution and curb the widespread violence plaguing Pine Ridge. On June 26, 1975, an enormous shootout occurred at Pine Ridge, leading to the loss of life of FBI brokers Jack Coler and Ronald Williams, and Native American AIM member Joe Stuntz. When the smoke cleared, three males have been arrested for the deadly shootings, together with Robert Robideau, Dino Butler, and Leonard Peltier. The case was the topic of Incident at Oglala, a social justice documentary nonetheless related immediately.
Though Butler and Robideau have been acquitted throughout their homicide trial, Peltier was tried individually after being extradited from Canada. Resulting from his previous authorized troubles, Peltier was a needed fugitive earlier than visiting Pine Ridge, charged with evading police after being accused of trying to kill an off-duty Milwaukee police officer. Regardless of sustaining his innocence and offering a number of alibis, Peltier was named on the FBI’s Most Wished Record in December 1975 and was arrested for murdering FBI brokers Coler and Williams on February 6, 1976. In April 1977, Peltier was convicted of homicide and given two consecutive life sentences.
‘Incident at Oglala’s Partaking Topic
Directed to nice acclaim by Michael Apted, Incident at Oglala intently examines what transpired at Pine Ridge on June 26, 1975. Robert Redford narrates the authorized case, offering the contextual violence plaguing Pine Ridge earlier than the lethal shootout. At Pine Ridge, the division between conventional Lakota tribe members and youthful, Americanized Dakota natives resulted in a number of drive-by shootings. To stop such, AIM was requested to go to Pine Ridge to espouse conventional customs.
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The title Incident at Oglala refers back to the shootout in Lakota territory at Pine Ridge, presided over by tribal chair Richard Wilson. Oglala additionally held AIM’s headquarters at Calvin Leaping Bull’s property. The incident was sparked by a pair of stolen boots by teenage AIM member, Jimmy Eagle, prompting an FBI investigation. When brokers Coler and Williams approached Eagle to debate the stolen boots, they adopted a car they believed to be getting into the AIM settlement, and a brutal shootout ensued. Coler and Williams have been shot useless, as was AIM member Joe Stuntz.
With an ideal 100% Rotten Tomatoes score, Incident at Oglala traces the authorized trial Peltier withstood following the lethal shootout at Pine Ridge. Narrated by Robert Redford, who has advocated Peltier’s innocence since 1980, helped to absolve Peltier’s authorized guilt and show he was framed and persecuted for being a local. Whereas the documentary helped increase consciousness about Peltier’s wrongful conviction, he was denied parole in 1993.
Peltier’s Journey to Clemency & Commutation
After being denied parole in 1993, Peltier spent the following 31 years in jail. In 1999, he wrote a memoir titled Jail Writings: My Life Is My Solar Dance, wherein he admitted that, whereas he was concerned within the shootout at Pine Ridge, he didn’t kill FBI brokers Coler and Williams. Proof pointing to Peltier’s guilt included possessing Coler’s handgun, which, together with a thumbprint, was left in an RV that Peltier evaded from police on foot.
With conflicting proof all through the trial and a 1979 jail escape, proving Peltier’s innocence has not been straightforward. Nevertheless, 25 years after penning his memoir and almost 50 years since his arrest, Peltier’s jail sentence was formally commuted by forty sixth U.S. President, Joe Biden. The commuted sentence permits Peltier to serve the rest of his consecutive life sentences from house below home arrest.
Peltier’s commutation comes after submitting for clemency in 2023, one among many authorized makes an attempt to absolve his guilt. At one level, President Invoice Clinton thought of commuting Peltier’s sentence. After being denied parole once more in July 2024, President Biden commuted Peltier’s jail sentence on his closing day in workplace. Peltier is anticipated to return to his Turtle Mountain Band tribe and dwell in a house on their reservation in North Dakota.
For followers of documentaries that make an actual distinction in day by day life, Incident at Oglala joins Errol Morris’ The Skinny Blue Line as a strong movie that may change public perceptions and lead to true justice.
Incident at Oglala is out there to lease on AppleTV & Amazon Prime Video