It's hard to start with recommending Powwow Highway other than telling people to go watch it, watch it now. It is a movie best rewarded as a journey of discovery for both you and the characters. But if you're looking for reasons this tends to be on the list of best American Indian movies, I've got a few for you. The story starts with the (still sadly relevant) bit involving hard bitten Buddy Red Bow trying to keep a corporation from taking just a bit more of the reservation away. He gets a call that his sister has, for mysterious reasons, been arrested in another state, and he and his friend Philbert, who has a rusted old car named Protector, go off to rescue her and her kids.

We're all familiar with the basics of a road trip movie, but this one through Indian country is far more about friendship, family and the narrow lines we walk between the present, the past, and the future. There's no glamorous hotels or cars, but there is beauty and poverty. There are scenes of great humor(there is a buying a car radio one that is a perfect example of characterization without words) and ones that will rip at your heart, because sometimes we break, and can't get up again. If you've watched any amount of shows or movies with Native actors, this will feel like a journey of who's who, but the director weaves it in seamlessly as the roles are expanded past the simple ones that tend to be given to native actors to let them shine. And you're never left feeling that the two friends aren't friends, even as annoying as each can be.

As a look at modern at the time and even now life in Indian Country, it's still on the top of the list of popular media. And the ending, like life itself, is bittersweet and rich, but the important part is the journey.

Just don't forget to laugh, too.