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Incident at Oglala tells the story of a shootout that happened at the Pine Ridge Indian reservation is South Dakota during the early 1970’s. It told the story of how FBI agents had followed a vehicle that matched the description of someone they were searching for. There ended up being a large shootout that ended in the death of 2 FBI agents and resulted in a nationwide manhunt for the Indians who were involved. They basically pinned the whole thing on Leonard Peltier because they needed a scapegoat and were able to get enough “evidence” to convict him.

It’s a very disturbing to see the holes in the investigation exposed by the documentary. The shell casing controversy was upsetting to hear about. It’s scary to think that someone could be convicted on such a weak case overall. The movie made me feel as though Leonard Peltier was being prosecuted as guilty until proven innocent not innocent until proven guilty like our court systems are supposed to be run. It was as if the FBI needed to catch someone and get a conviction more for pride than for justice.

This story reminded me of the West Memphis Three case that took place in the 1990’s. If anyone really found themselves interested in this movie or in Thunderheart they should definitely check out the West Memphis 3 case. There are two documentaries following these boys case and any info you want can be found on www.wm3.org.