November is Native American Heritage Month, and if you want to mark it from your couch, you can do a lot better than another old Western. Some of the funniest, most moving and most binge-worthy stories of the last few years were made by Native writers, directors and actors. Here are 10 movies and shows I’d actually recommend, what they’re about, what real viewers are saying, and where to stream every one.
Why I made this Native American Heritage Month list
Native American Heritage Month has been officially recognized in the U.S. every November since 1990. It’s a time to celebrate Native cultures and histories, and honestly, one of the easiest ways to start is by watching stories that Native people tell about themselves.
A quick note on how I picked these. I’m not Native, so I didn’t want to just pick what Hollywood hyped. Almost everything here was written, directed or led by Native creators, and before writing I read through what Native critics and everyday viewers in online communities said about each one: what they loved, what felt real, and what didn’t. You’ll see those opinions woven into each review. The one exception is Killers of the Flower Moon, which I included because so many people are curious about it, along with the debate it sparked.
I’m a regular viewer, not a film critic, so I scored each title on what matters when you’re picking something for tonight:
- Story and entertainment (3 points): Did it keep me hooked?
- Heart (3 points): Did it stick with me afterward?
- Feels real (2 points): Does it feel true to the people it’s about?
- Easy to get into (2 points): Can anyone jump in without homework?
They’re in no particular order, and I’ve added a heads-up where a title deals with heavy topics.
10 Native American Heritage Month picks, in no particular order
1. Reservation Dogs (2021–2023)
If you only watch one thing on this list, make it this one.
Bear, Elora Danan, Cheese and Willie Jack are four Native teenagers living on a reservation in rural Oklahoma. They’re bored, broke and kind of a mess, so they spend their days pulling small heists: stealing a chip delivery truck, running little scams around town. It looks like dumb teenage stuff at first. Then you find out why. A year earlier, their best friend Daniel died by suicide, and the four of them made a promise to save up and get to California, the place he always talked about.
The show follows them as they try to make that happen, and as the people around them, the aunties, the uncles, the local cop, the rival gang, slowly turn into a whole community you feel like you know. Bear also keeps getting visits from a spirit guide named William Knifeman, a warrior who very proudly tells everyone he died at the Battle of Little Bighorn, though not exactly the heroic way you’d think. It’s one of the funniest running jokes on TV.
What got me is how fast this show switches from laugh-out-loud to quietly devastating. One minute you’re laughing at a deadpan line from Uncle Brownie, and the next you’re watching someone sit alone with grief they’ve never talked about. It never feels like it’s teaching you a lesson. It just lets you hang out with these people until you care about them.
What viewers say: this is the show Native viewers bring up again and again as the first one that “felt like home,” from the inside jokes to the way families actually talk. A lot of people mention rewatching it every year. It was co-created by Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi, with Native writers and directors behind every episode, and you can feel that.
My favorite character is Elora Danan (Devery Jacobs). She’s the one who’s most determined to get out, and the one who’s hurting the most about Daniel. Her storyline in season 2 is some of the best acting I’ve seen on TV.
Why isn’t everyone talking about it? It aired on FX on Hulu, which a lot of people don’t think of as a home for big shows, and it ended after three seasons. Critics loved it. It won a Peabody Award and sits at 99% on Rotten Tomatoes, but it never got the mainstream buzz it deserved.
Heads up: the show deals with suicide and grief. Best for: anyone. Seriously. My score: 9.5/10 Where to watch: Hulu
2. Smoke Signals (1998)
This is the movie that a lot of people call the start of modern Native cinema, and it holds up beautifully.
Victor Joseph (Adam Beach) and Thomas Builds-the-Fire (Evan Adams) grew up together on the Coeur d’Alene Reservation in Idaho, but they couldn’t be more different. Victor is tough, quiet and angry. Thomas is a nerdy, endlessly cheerful storyteller who never stops talking. When Victor gets news that his estranged father, Arnold, has died in Arizona, he needs money to go get his ashes. The only person who can pay for the trip is Thomas, and Thomas has one condition: he’s coming too.
So the two of them take a bus to Phoenix, and on the way, through flashbacks and Thomas’s stories, we learn what Arnold was really like, the good and the very bad, and what happened the night of a house fire years ago that tied both boys to him forever.
The scene everyone remembers is on the bus, when Victor gives Thomas a lesson in how to look like a “real Indian”: stop smiling, look stoic, like you just came back from killing a buffalo. It’s hilarious, and it’s also a sharp little jab at how movies have always shown Native people.
What viewers say: people love that it’s funny first. Many say it was the first time they saw Native characters on screen who were just regular, sarcastic, complicated people. Fans still quote Thomas’s lines and the “John Wayne’s Teeth” song.
My favorite character is Thomas. He seems like comic relief at first, but by the end he’s the emotional center of the whole movie.
Why is it overlooked now? It’s an older indie, and it’s harder to find on the big streamers. But it won the Audience Award at Sundance and was one of the first feature films written, directed and produced by Native Americans to get a wide release.
Best for: a quiet night in, or anyone who loves road trip movies. My score: 8.5/10 Where to watch: free with a library card on Kanopy, or rent on Apple TV
3. Prey (2022)
Yes, it’s a Predator movie. Stay with me.
It’s 1719 on the Great Plains. Naru (Amber Midthunder) is a young Comanche woman who wants to prove she can be a hunter, even though nobody in her tribe takes her seriously, including her big brother Taabe, who’s the star hunter everyone admires. When she starts noticing strange signs in the forest, she’s sure something dangerous is out there. Nobody believes her. She’s right, of course, and what’s out there is a lot worse than a bear.
The whole movie becomes a battle of brains between Naru and an alien hunter with way better weapons. She can’t overpower it, so she has to watch, learn and outsmart it, with help from her very good dog, Sarii.
I went in expecting a fun creature feature, and I got one, but it’s also just a great underdog story. Naru is easy to root for, and the action is tense without being endlessly gory.
What viewers say: the number one tip from viewers is to switch the audio to the Comanche-language dub. It was the first full-length feature film ever dubbed in Comanche, with much of the original cast returning, and a lot of people say it makes the movie feel twice as immersive. Amber Midthunder has said she’s proud of it.
My favorite character is Naru, obviously. She’s smart, stubborn and actually learns from her mistakes, which is rare for an action hero.
Why didn’t more people see it? It skipped theaters and went straight to Hulu, so a lot of people assumed it was just another sequel and skipped it.
Heads up: some bloody action scenes. Best for: action fans, or teens who think they don’t like “heritage month” movies. My score: 8.5/10 Where to watch: Hulu
4. Frybread Face and Me (2023)
This is the coziest movie on the list, and probably the most underrated.
It’s the summer of 1990. Benny is 11, lives in San Diego, and is obsessed with Diana Ross. His parents are going through a rough patch, so they send him to spend the summer at his grandmother’s sheep ranch on the Navajo Nation in Arizona. He barely knows his family there. His grandma (Sarah H. Natani) speaks mostly Navajo. And his tough, no-nonsense cousin Dawn, nicknamed “Frybread Face,” is not impressed with him at all.
Not much “happens” in the big-movie sense. Benny herds sheep, gets bossed around by Dawn, deals with a loud uncle, and slowly finds his place in the family. But by the end, you realize the whole movie is about a kid figuring out who he is, and where he comes from.
It’s a short, gentle movie, just under 90 minutes, and it made me want to call my own grandmother. The relationship between Benny and Dawn is the heart of it: two very different kids who end up being exactly what the other needed.
What viewers say: a lot of Native viewers say it felt like their own summers at grandma’s house, right down to the food and the long, quiet days. It’s semi-autobiographical for writer-director Billy Luther.
My favorite character is the grandmother. She hardly speaks English in the movie, but every look she gives says more than a page of dialogue.
Why is it overlooked? It quietly landed on Netflix with almost no promotion. It has a 96% on Rotten Tomatoes, and most people have never heard of it.
Best for: families, and anyone who wants something warm and gentle. My score: 8/10 Where to watch: Netflix
5. Dark Winds (2022–)
If you like slow-burn detective shows, this is your next binge.
It’s the 1970s on the Navajo Nation. Lt. Joe Leaphorn (Zahn McClarnon) is a quiet, sharp tribal police officer who has seen just about everything. In season 1, he’s investigating a double murder that seems connected to an armored-car robbery, with a new deputy, Jim Chee (Kiowa Gordon), who has secrets of his own. Sgt. Bernadette Manuelito (Jessica Matten) rounds out the team. Every season brings a new case, and each one pulls in the FBI, family drama and old wounds. By season 4, the team ends up in 1970s Los Angeles searching for a missing Navajo teenager.
It’s based on Tony Hillerman’s classic Leaphorn and Chee mystery novels, but the show is made with an all-Native writers’ room, and it shows in the details: the language, the humor, the way people talk about family and the land.
What I love is the mood. Wide desert shots, quiet tension, and mysteries that unfold slowly enough that you actually get to know the people solving them.
What viewers say: Zahn McClarnon gets the most love by far. People say he can carry an entire scene without saying a word, and many think he’s long overdue for major awards. Some viewers warn the first couple of episodes are slow, but almost everyone says it pays off.
My favorite character is Leaphorn. He’s tough, tired and carrying a lot of grief, but he never stops caring about his community.
Why isn’t it bigger? It started on AMC, which a lot of younger viewers don’t watch. Now that it has landed on Netflix too, more people are finally finding it.
Heads up: violence and some intense scenes. Best for: mystery and crime-drama fans. My score: 8.5/10 Where to watch: AMC+ and Netflix
6. Fancy Dance (2023)
If you only know Lily Gladstone from Killers of the Flower Moon, watch this one. Some fans even say it’s her better movie.
Jax (Gladstone) lives on the Seneca-Cayuga reservation in Oklahoma and gets by any way she can, mostly small-time hustles. Her sister Tawi has gone missing, and Jax has been raising Tawi’s teenage daughter, Roki, while searching for her. Roki is sure her mom will turn up in time for the big state powwow, where the two of them planned to dance together.
Then child welfare steps in. Because Jax doesn’t have legal custody, Roki is sent to live with her white grandfather off the reservation. Jax isn’t having it. She takes Roki and the two hit the road toward the powwow, keeping one step ahead of the people looking for them and still hoping to find Tawi along the way.
It’s a road movie, a family drama and a quiet thriller all at once. And underneath it is a real crisis that doesn’t get nearly enough attention: the high number of missing and murdered Indigenous women, and how often their cases get ignored.
What viewers say: almost everyone talks about Gladstone, who says more with a look than most actors do with a monologue. Many viewers also praise newcomer Isabel Deroy-Olson as Roki. Director Erica Tremblay, who is Seneca-Cayuga herself, gets a lot of credit for how real the small details feel.
My favorite character is Jax. She breaks rules constantly, but every single thing she does is out of love.
Why is it overlooked? It premiered at Sundance in 2023 but didn’t reach audiences until Apple TV picked it up a year later, and it got lost in the streaming shuffle. It holds a 96% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Heads up: deals with a missing family member and some tense, sad moments. Best for: fans of character-driven dramas. My score: 8.5/10 Where to watch: Apple TV
7. Rez Ball (2024)
This is the feel-good pick, and I mean that as a compliment.
The Chuska Warriors are a high school basketball team on the Navajo Nation in New Mexico, and basketball there isn’t just a sport. Whole communities pack the gym. The team has a real shot at a state title until tragedy hits: their star player dies, and the team falls apart. Now the pressure lands on his best friend, Jimmy Holiday, and a coach (Jessica Matten) who refuses to let the season go.
From there, it’s everything you want from a sports movie: losing streaks, locker room fights, big comeback games and a final buzzer that had me on my feet. But it’s also about grief, and about kids carrying a lot more than a basketball season on their shoulders.
What viewers say: lots of people compare it to Friday Night Lights, with an authentic look at how much “rez ball” means to Navajo communities. Viewers who grew up on reservations say the gym scenes are spot on. It was directed by Sydney Freeland, who is Navajo, co-written with Sterlin Harjo of Reservation Dogs, and produced by LeBron James.
My favorite character is Coach Heather Hobbs. She’s tough, funny, and clearly fighting her own battles, too.
Why might you have missed it? It went straight to Netflix in fall 2024, where great sports movies sometimes slip by. It’s at 94% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Best for: families with teens, sports fans, anyone who needs a pick-me-up. My score: 8/10 Where to watch: Netflix
8. Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)
This is the most famous title on the list, and the most debated.
In the 1920s, oil was discovered on Osage land in Oklahoma, and the Osage became some of the wealthiest people in the world. Then they started dying, one after another. Some were shot, some poisoned, and the deaths were barely investigated. The movie follows Mollie Burkhart (Lily Gladstone), an Osage woman, and her white husband, Ernest (Leonardo DiCaprio), whose uncle (Robert De Niro) is a powerful local rancher. As Mollie’s family keeps dying, the truth gets closer and closer to home.
It’s based on a true story, and that’s what makes it so hard to shake. Gladstone is incredible here. She became the first Native American woman nominated for the Oscar for Best Actress, and she won the Golden Globe.
But I’ll be honest: it’s about three and a half hours long, and it’s a heavy watch.
What viewers say: this is where opinions split. Many viewers, including some Osage voices, praised the way Osage language and culture were shown and the care that went into working with the community. Others felt the movie spends too much time with Ernest and the killers, and not enough with Mollie and the Osage people themselves. I think both sides are worth hearing, and that conversation is a big part of why it belongs on this list.
My favorite character is Mollie. Even when the movie looks away from her, Gladstone makes sure you never stop thinking about her.
Heads up: violence and murder; it’s long and emotionally heavy. Best for: history lovers, and anyone ready for a big, serious movie night. My score: 7.5/10 Where to watch: Apple TV
9. Sugarcane (2024)
This is the hardest watch on the list, and the most important.
Sugarcane is a documentary about an investigation into St. Joseph’s Mission, a former residential school in British Columbia, Canada, where Indigenous children were sent after being taken from their families. A community investigation is looking into reports of abuse and missing children connected to the school. At the same time, co-director Julian Brave NoiseCat follows his own father’s story, which is tied to the mission in ways that are painful to watch unfold.
It’s set in Canada, but the U.S. had its own system of Indian boarding schools, and the story will feel familiar to many Native families here.
I’m not going to pretend this is a relaxing watch. But the filmmaking is careful and human. It’s about survivors, families and healing as much as it’s about what happened.
What viewers say: many people say they had to pause it, and that they’re glad they finished it. It won a directing award at Sundance and was nominated for the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature.
Heads up: discusses child abuse, deaths of children and trauma. Not for kids. Best for: adults ready for something serious and meaningful. My score: 9/10 Where to watch: Disney+ and Hulu
10. Spirit Rangers (2022–)
Finally, one for the little ones.
Kodi, Summer and Eddy Skycedar are Chumash and Cowlitz siblings who live in a national park. They have a secret: they can turn into Spirit Rangers. Kodi becomes a bear, Summer a hummingbird and Eddy a turtle, and together they protect the park and the spirits who live there. Each episode is a small adventure with a gentle lesson about nature, family or working together.
It’s made for preschoolers, so adults won’t be glued to it, but it’s sweet, colorful and full of real Native culture, from language to stories to food. It was created by Karissa Valencia, who is Chumash, and Native voices are part of everything about it.
What viewers say: parents love that it’s a kids’ show where Native families are the heroes, not side characters, and that their kids actually ask to watch it.
My favorite character is Summer, the hummingbird. She’s fast, bossy and very confident, which anyone with a bossy sibling will recognize.
Best for: kids ages 3 to 7 and their families. My score: 7.5/10 (as an adult watching with kids) Where to watch: Netflix
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FAQ
When is Native American Heritage Month? Every November in the United States. It has been officially recognized each year since 1990.
What should I watch for Native American Heritage Month? If you only pick one, start with Reservation Dogs on Hulu. For a movie night, try Smoke Signals, Fancy Dance or Rez Ball. For kids, Spirit Rangers on Netflix.
What are good Native American movies for families? Frybread Face and Me and Rez Ball work well for families with older kids and teens, and Spirit Rangers is made for preschoolers.
Can I watch Prey in the Comanche language? Yes. On Hulu, switch the audio track to Comanche. It was the first full-length feature film dubbed in Comanche.
Why is Killers of the Flower Moon controversial? Many praised its Osage performances and the work done with the Osage community, while others felt it focused too much on the white killers instead of the Osage victims. Both views are worth hearing.
Native American Heritage Month is a great reason to start, but none of these are “once a year” watches. Pick one tonight, and if it hits you the way Reservation Dogs hit me, you’ll be back for the rest. Tell us in the comments which one you’re starting with, or what we should add to next year’s list.
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