Review: 'The Exiles'

The loneliness, despair, and renewal in this semidocumentary account of native Americans living in Los Angeles is some of the most eloquent in American cinema.

from the July 11, 2008 edition

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Kent Mackenzie was a true original who made only a few films in his relatively short life. The most celebrated is "The Exiles," filmed independently between 1958 and 1961. It played film festivals but is only now receiving its theatrical release. A semidocumentary account of native Americans living in Los Angeles's downtown Bunker Hill, its evocations of loneliness and despair and renewal are among the most eloquent in American cinema. Grade: A (Unrated.)