Review of American Native By Geoff Welch
Curator, Harmony Hall, Sloatsburg, New York

On Sunday, May 21, at the transplanted Hoboken Film Festival, now held at the Historic Paramount Movie Theater in Middletown, New York, the documentary American Native was screened. Directed by Steve Oritt, the film has gone through much re-editing since its rough-cut screening at Ramapo College over a year ago and is now making the rounds of film festivals throughout.

This final edit includes important new interview footage and the re-working of many scenes with the end result being a more tightly focused film. The complex story of the Ramapough Mountain Indians is gradually revealed over the course of inter-cut sections of interviews in a variety of locations in and around Ramapough communities in New York and New Jersey — see which ones you recognize.

American Native tells a more positive tale, portraying the much misunderstood Ramapough Mountain Indians through a more historical lens that roots a people and culture in the surrounding Ramapo Mountains.

Hats off to Steve Oritt for sticking with this tricky project and getting it right.

AMERICAN NATIVE OFFICIAL TRAILER from Phydo Films on Vimeo.

A key section of an interview with Archeologist Edward Lenik has been added to the film that clarifies the often cited 1974 David Cohen book on the tribe, The Ramapo Mountain People. Cohen’s research did not consider extensive archaeological evidence which, according to Lenik, now demonstrates a continuous Indian presence in the Ramapo Mountains ranging over some 10,000 years.

Meanwhile, Lenik just finished his third book on the Ramapoughs, Keepers of the Pass, which, when published, will add materially to the long overdue federal recognition of the Ramapoughs.

Locally the Ramapough Lenape people are known to reside in and around Hillburn, NY, Stagg Hill (Mahwah, NJ) and Ringwood, NJ.

Against the background of derisive tall-tales, bad films and TV series, watch American Native and read Lenik’s books to get the fascinating real story of the native people of the Ramapo Mountains.