Turquoise Rose 2007

     This film is a coming of age story about a Navajo girl from Arizona.  Her name is Turquoise Rose and she was raised in the suburbs of Phoenix.  She attends college and is interning as a photojournalist at a local newspaper.  She has saved her money and she bought a ticket to go on vacation in Europe for the summer with her roommate.  This all changes when her elderly grandmother requests that Turquoise come to the Navajo reservation to help her.  Of course, Turquoise is disappointed to not be going on her trip.  She does feel that the right thing for her to do is take care of her grandmother.  The road she is now traveling seems so out of focus from what she had planned for the summer.  She does learn that this is also an adventure but just of a different type.

     This is a very interesting story and it also gives insight into the lifestyles of the Navajo people still living on reservations.  Turquoise meets Henry and he is a big help to her.  He has family living on the reservation, he works with the elderly Navajo people and he is also a sculptor.  He gives Turquoise a tour of this unfamiliar area.  To thank him, she makes dinner for him and for her grandmother.  He invites her to a dance in the local town.  Turquoise leaves to go back to Arizona but she doesn’t get to say goodbye to Henry before she leaves?

     The scenery of this area is very beautiful and very much unlike small or big city life.  Everyone knows all the people and family members on the reservation.  There is a LOT of work to be done living in this area.  Pumping water to bring back to homes, taking care of livestock and earning a living.  Many of the young people of The Nation fall prey to drugs and alcohol plus they and lose their sense of history.  This simple type of lifestyle on the reservation has been the same for hundreds of years.  5 1/2* (I really liked this movie)

94 min, Drama directed and written by Travis Holt Hamilton and also written by Cara Rose Brown, Marjorie Coltrin Detiege and Jake Johnson with Deshava Apachee, Donavon G. Barney, Ethel Begay, Kathleen Benner, John Boomer, Jane, Renee and Warren Brown, Vincent Craig, Regis Dodson, Dacia Enos, Pyn Francisco, Carol Gibson, Audie Greybear, Dinzell James, Oreland C. Joe.

Note:  Imdb 7.7* out of 10* with 59 reviews, Rotten Tomatoes 94% with 154 audience scores, Amazon 4.4* out of 5* with 70 ratings, Fandango 94% audience score, newspaper rock 7.5 out of 100 Russ Bates.