The Broken Chain | Iroquois Confederacy | French and Indian War | Pontiac's Rebellion | American Revolution | Pierce Brosnan | Eric Schweig |
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The Broken Chain P1
The film’s title refers to the broken chain of peace that the Confederation had enjoyed since their legendary founder the Peacemaker had brought the tribes together hundreds of years earlier. He had warned them that if ever the nations fought against each other, disaster would befall them. As the French and British struggle against each other, each seeks the Iroquois to support their side.
Later, when the American colonists revolt against the British, the two sides again appeal for the support of the Confederacy. The two principal warriors, Theyendangea (aka Joseph Brandt, played by Eric Schweig) and Lohaheo (J.C. White Shirt) who regard each other as brothers, split over this, Lohaheo wanting to stay neutral, and Brandt, swayed by his British mentor Sir William Johnson, as well as upset over the racism of the colonists, wanting to join the British.
Because of the prejudice and brutal acts of the Colonials, some of the tribes do support the British, and others the Americans. The Council of Clan Mothers had advised the men to stay neutral, but passions ran too high.
The Iroquois divide into warring factions, and the disaster promised by the Peacemaker descends, the tribes losing their ancestral lands to the encroaching Americans.
Much of the story is narrated by the Iroquois warrior Theyendangea, who later adopts the name Joseph Brant. Of a mixed bloodline, he catches the eye of the man the British put in charge of Indian Affairs, Sir William Johnson (Pierce Brosnan), whose stately home becomes a gathering place for many of the Iroquois. He has taken a Native American wife and has become very trusted by the Iroquois. He even sponsors Brandt’s education in far off Connecticut with a Loyalist.
When Joseph returns, garbed in the clothes of a white man, he is slow to recognize Lohaheo, but then they do embrace. Clan Mother Gesina (Buffy Sainte-Marie) warns him about his British education, “You must be careful not to become so fond of their ways that you ever forget who and what you are.”
Gesina is especially of interest, her office in the Confederacy revealing that these Native American women played a far greater role in public life than any colonial woman could hope for. Although, as in other tribes, the chiefs and warriors were men, it was certain respected women who inherited the office of Clan Mother, who formed an inter-tribal council. It was the clan mother who chose the chief and with whom the chiefs conferred about important matters, including going to war.
When Joseph becomes a chief and an invitation arrives from the Continental Congress for the Confederacy to send representatives, he is one of those whom the women appoint.
Another character appearing several times is Ben Franklin who is so impressed by the Confederacy that he adopts some of its governing ideas. In one scene he demonstrates to his colleagues, fearful of the might of the British Empire, the weakness of one arrow as compared to the strength of a bunch of them held together, the bundle representing of course a united 13 colonies. This is a repetition of what the Iroquois had said of their own united confederacy.
