Ramona (Blu-ray)

Hollywood has a long and problematic history of depicting Indigenous Peoples on screen, but Edwin Carewe’s Ramona shows that filmmakers of the silent era could exercise sensitivity and empathy. Based on the popular novel by Helen Hunt Jackson, set in 19th-century California, Ramona stars Dolores Del Rio as a woman of mixed race, who abandons her position of privilege in order to marry a Native American (Warner Baxter). At first they find an idyllic happiness in the wilderness (much of the film was shot at Zion National Park in Utah). As the years pass, they are confronted by various forms of racism, and Ramona’s hopeful love story becomes a tale of social injustice and tragic loss. This edition was restored by the Library of Congress from color-tinted 35mm materials preserved by Gosfiolmofond of Russia and the Národní National Film Archive of the Czech Republic. Music composed and performed by Ben Model.