'SKINWALKERS' OFFERS SOMETHING NEW IN MYSTERY GENRE.Byline: David Kronke TV Critic If you watch ``Skinwalkers,'' a special American installment of PBS' ``Mystery!'' series, you'll likely see tonight more American Indian American Indian or Native American or Amerindian or indigenous American Any member of the various aboriginal peoples of the Western Hemisphere, with the exception of the Eskimos (Inuit) and the Aleuts. actors than you would watching a season or two (or three, and probably four) worth of regular TV. Fortunately, there are reasons more compelling than mere political correctness politically correct adj. Abbr. PC 1. Of, relating to, or supporting broad social, political, and educational change, especially to redress historical injustices in matters such as race, class, gender, and sexual orientation. to tune in. ``Skinwalkers'' is executive-produced by Robert Redford Noun 1. Robert Redford - United States actor and filmmaker who starred with Paul Newman in several films (born in 1936) Charles Robert Redford, Redford , a longtime fan of novelist Tony Hillerman, whose 1986 book inspired this film. It was the first that united his Navajo policemen Joe Leaphorn (Wes Studi, ``The Last of the Mohicans'') and Jim Chee (Adam Beach, ``Windtalkers''). They could have served as the template that inspired ``The X-Files'' - Chee is the mellow, spiritual believer who's training to become a medicine man, while Leaphorn is assimilated and easily agitated ag·i·tate v. ag·i·tat·ed, ag·i·tat·ing, ag·i·tates v.tr. 1. To cause to move with violence or sudden force. 2. , not to mention thoroughly pragmatic. The film, written by Redford's son James and directed by Chris Eyre (``Smoke Signals''), opens as a million other mystery films do: An isolated victim slows down, an ill-advised move for which he'll pay the steep price, since he'll soon be turning to the camera and screaming - and the next time we see him he'll be prostrate pros·trate tr.v. pros·trat·ed, pros·trat·ing, pros·trates 1. To put or throw flat with the face down, as in submission or adoration: , surrounded by cops. But that's where the similarities to conventional mysteries end. ``Skinwalkers'' refers to the suspected perpetrators of the crime, which is one in a series that fells wise old Navajo medicine men. A skinwalker, according to Navajo legend, is a man who can shift his shape into that of a beast. Leaphorn is, naturally, skeptical, but Chee sees much evil portent in all of this, particularly when he's shot at with bone beads, buckshot buck·shot n. A large lead shot for shotgun shells, used especially in hunting big game. buckshot Noun large lead pellets used for hunting game Noun 1. made of human bones that, when they pierce the skin, place a curse upon the victim. Part of the appeal of ``Skinwalkers'' is its easy invitation to explore a segment of our own country about which many of us are ill-informed (the film doesn't try to guilt-trip viewers yet remains resolutely proud of the culture it depicts). So while the film isn't doling out the same old cop fare, it's also offering understanding of a people in an effortless, entertaining fashion. Studi and Beach are a winning pair of mismatched cops whom novelist Hillerman, screenwriter Redford and director Eyre have already assigned trenchant characterizations. Sheila Tousey has a key winning turn as Leaphorn's ailing but good-humored wife, and Alex Rice is empathetic em·pa·thet·ic adj. Empathic. em  pa·thet i·cal·ly adv. as the public defender public defender, governmental official who represents indigent persons accused of crime. U.S. Supreme Court decisions expanding the right to counsel to pretrial proceedings and holding that a person cannot be sentenced to even one day in jail unless a lawyer was who, against her initial better judgment, befriends Chee. If this manages to become a film series - and it fully deserves to - all these relationships promise to only get richer. SKINWALKERS - Three stars What: American ``Mystery!'' installment based on the Tony Hillerman novel about Navajo policemen investigating a string of murders on tribal grounds. Where: KCET KCET Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo (Japan) KCET Kamaraj College of Engineering and Technology . When: 9 tonight. In a nutshell: An intriguing mystery, in what for many will be an exotic atmosphere, powered by good old-fashioned buddy-cop tropes winningly played by Wes Studi and Adam Beach. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Wes Studi, left, and Adam Beach are two very different Navajo police officers trying to solve a series of murders of American Indian medicine men in ``Skinwalkers.'' |
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