Sto nerds of prey11/9/2023 Naru falling into French clutches for them to use as bait to trap the Predator ends up being one of the most terrifying moments in the film: A camp full of white men who have an Indigenous woman prisoner is almost scarier than the Predator, whose motives are simply to kill everything. Thrown into the mix are white colonizers in the form of French trappers who have been peppering the Comanche hills with metal traps to catch animals the easy way. Her status as something of an outsider in her village only adds to the ever-present horror movie dynamic where women are never believed until it’s too late.īut it’s not only the alien Predator threatening Naru and her people. Naru wants to challenge these prescribed gender roles, and bringing home fresh kills along with the other warriors is her dream. This places Naru in an interesting interstitial position within her own people, as hunting is much more than just survival for her. For the Comanche, hunting is about survival, which in turn situates the Predator creature in solid colonizer territory as it hunts purely for sport. But her mother Aruka reminds her that hunting isn’t about proving anything. She thinks the village believes she’s not good enough. Naru wants to be a hunter as a point of pride. Thanks to the Indigenous context in Prey, the story develops overall themes of predator and prey dynamics from a new perspective, all the way through entire food chains. I especially appreciate the fact that when there are Indigenous deaths on screen the camera doesn’t linger on the dead bodies. The Comanche language dub is a window into the story that only adds to these important cultural foundations. Naru brushes her teeth with a traditional toothbrush and when she discovers a sacred bison has been improperly slaughtered she leaves an offering to honor the animal’s spirit.Īll of these details are true to Comanche life and history, making Prey much more than just a Predator movie. We see a variety of Indigenous practices playing out on screen, like grinding pastes to tan hides, the variety of plants used for food and medicine, and their knowledge of local flora and fauna including which mushrooms were safe to eat and which were useful for healing. Prey does a spectacular job of showing what life would have been like pre-colonization for the Indigenous peoples of the north. Thanks to stunning aerial footage, we get a clear sense of Naru’s tribal lands as well as how far she and the other hunters must go to help sustain the village. The cinematography is spellbinding, and it is breathtakingly shot. As multiple pandemics rage around the planet, I’m not one to encourage folks to go to poorly ventilated spaces like movie theaters, but I hope that one day Prey can have a theatrical run. We see it drop off the signature hulking creature (Dane DiLiegro) with its clicking fanged maw, cloaked in invisibility and ready to stalk local targets.ĭan Trachtenberg’s Prey, a Hulu original and Predator prequel taking place in 1719 in the Northern Great Plains of Turtle Island, is a refreshing installment in a series that’s been stale for some time now. To followers of the Predator franchise, the ship is familiar. As Naru sneaks off to practice throwing her hand ax, she sees the sky open up, and an object unlike anything she knows comes through. She wants to attempt the ceremonial kuthamiia - the first kill - that would officiate her status as a warrior in her tribe, like her brother Taabe (Dakota Beavers). But she also goes into the woods with her trusty dog Sarii to hunt. She helps her mother, Aruka (Michelle Thrush), make pastes for healing, cooking, and curing hides. Yes, she gets up every morning to gather vegetables with the other girls. Naru (Amber Midthunder) isn’t your traditional young Comanche woman.
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