"TV Drama focuses on Joseph Brant"

If an old friend and your next-door neighbor started a feud, where would that leave you?

That's the third-party view of the American Revolution revealed by Divided Loyalties, a TV movie appearing next Tuesday on CTV.

In the clash of Crown versus colonies, the native Iroquois were caught in the middle, with devastating results.

Divided Loyalties focuses on Joseph Brant, the Mohawk leader who struggled in vain to keep his people together.

It's a film that is bound to raise hackles: natives may resent that Brant is played by a non-Indian; Americans may object to their beloved George Washington depicted as a ruthless land-grabber; historians may poke holes in the story line, which makes some departures from the actual events.

But Divided Loyalties puts the revolution into a new light, clearly demonstrating the monumental impact it had on the native people of what is now the northeastern United States.

As a drama, the film presents action, adventure, spectacular re-creations and a compelling portrait of Brant.

When the American colonists fought to break away from British rule, each side wanted the Iroquois to back them. At first the Iroquois tried to stay neutral, but they were dragged into the conflict.

Some were allied with the rebels, others with the king. Their confederacy, the Six Nations council, was dissolved.

"After 500 years of peace, the Six Nations will fight against each other for the whites," one chief grieves.

"What is it that the white man sees in us? What weakness that makes us their followers?"

Unable to convince the Iroquois to stick together, Brant fought for the king. When the Iroquois became homeless casualties of the war, Brant negotiated with the British to obtain land grants in southwestern Ontario, around present-day Brantford.

"I've always felt that he (Brant) was one of the lesser known founders of Canada," says executive producer Tom Gould, whose Toronto-based company History Productions Ltd. made the film.

With a team of history scholars as advisers, Gould stands by the accuracy of the movie.

But he thinks some liberties were taken.

"I think everyone trying to make a drama out of historical events has to make compromises," he says. For example, "Brant did kill his son in a knife fight, but it took place in Brantford, not in Ohio" as the movie depicts.

"Parts of it may not be factual, but the story is the truth. I think we've captured the essence of the things that happened to him."

Day-to-day details posed problems for the researchers.

"Social histories are what is missing," says Gould. "You can get all the dates and personalities and battles you like, but getting social history is very difficult. In other words, how did people actually live, relate to one another?"

At times, the film-makers had to rely on the best guess of native experts.

"The questions that arose were at times quite unbelievable," says Gould. "You know, would Iroquois kiss in the 1760s?"

The selection of a non-native, Jack Langedijk, to play Brant may prove controversial.

"It was a very tough decision to make," says Gould, who indicated his company searched high and low for a native actor.

"There are some good Indian actors in Canada," he says. But "we wanted someone who looked like Brant, who looked commanding, someone who was athletic - it was an extremely rigorous role."

As for how Americans might react to the movie, Gould says pointedly, "It's very hard to alter history, isn't it?

"Fourteen of the 55 men who signed the Declaration of Independence were involved with land speculation companies, speculating in Indian lands.

"Look what happened to the two of the Six Nations who sided with the Americans, the Oneida and and the Tuscarora: they were the first to lose their land."

"A vengeful Washington sent 4,500 men to destroy Iroquois land "on nothing less than a scorched earth policy.

"So I think our depiction of this (Americans' behaviour) was dead on."

As for himself, Gould says he gained insight into Iroquois history.

"I really came to value and appreciate the political sophistication of the Six Nations."