Starring James Cromwell, Tantoo Cardinal, Graham Greene, and Joseph Ashton Directed by Richard Friedenberg Rated PG, with mild violence, racism Running time 117 minutes Jack gives this film a rating of 6 out of 10

By Jack Garner
Democrat and Chronicle

(Feb. 13, 1998) -- The Education of Little Tree is a rustic bit of Americana that reinforces an oft-heard philosophy espoused by Hillary Clinton: It takes a village to raise a child.

Little Tree is an orphaned, 8-year-old Cherokee boy in Depression-era Tennessee. As the film opens, he is sent to live with his grandparents in a rural hollow of the Great Smoky Mountains.

His grandpa (James Cromwell) is a tall, independent-minded white man. Grandma (Tantoo Cardinal) is a strong but soft-spoken Cherokee woman.

Under their folksy guidance, Little Tree (Joseph Ashton) learns to respect nature -- and read its signs. Through his grandparents' example, he also learns racial tolerance, as well as a distrust of less-enlightened neighbors.

The boy also is befriended by Willow John (Graham Greene), a Cherokee medicine man who teaches the boy native ways and the tragic history of his people under the thumb of the white man.

Little Tree's education also covers the fine points of making moonshine. His grandpa is a master. Unfortunately, Grandpa's reputation extends to the local authorities, who put a cork in the still.

More harmful is the state's decision to ship Little Tree off to the Notched Gap Indian School, where he learns particularly hard lessons. He is stripped of his Cherokee name and is exposed to all sorts of prejudice and injustice.

The boy's only hope is to return to the comfort and wisdom of his mountain home. But even there, the lessons of life are not all positive.

The Education of Little Tree is an adaptation of a novel by Forrest Carter, who supposedly wrote the sentimental, anti-bigotry tale as an apology for his earlier involvement in a group tied to the Ku Klux Klan.

Fortunately, the book's controversy has nothing to do with its content -- or the movie adaptation by writer-director Richard Friedenberg. (Friedenberg has already demonstrated a talent for literary Americana with his superb screenplay for A River Runs Through It.)

At nearly two hours, The Education of Little Tree is a good 20 minutes too long. But it counters its sometimes-simplistic, sentimental tone with moments of lyric beauty and gentle insight, as well as effective performances from a first-rate ensemble of actors.