Editing In the Land of the Head Hunters (section)

==Historical accuracy==
''In the Land of the Head Hunters'' has often been discussed as a flawed [[documentary film]]. The film combines many accurate representations of aspects of Kwakwaka'wakw culture, art, and technology from the era in which it was made with a melodramatic plot based on practices that either dated from long before the first contact of the Kwakwaka'wakw with people of European descent or were entirely fictional. Curtis appears never to have specifically presented the film as a documentary, but he also never specifically called it a work of fiction.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=program />

Some aspects of the film do have documentary accuracy: the artwork, the ceremonial dances, the clothing, the architecture of the buildings, and the construction of the [[dugout canoe|dugout]], or a [[war canoe]] reflected Kwakwaka'wakw culture. Other aspects of the film were based on the Kwakwaka'wakw's orally transmitted traditions or on aspects of other neighboring cultures. The film also accurately portrays Kwakwaka'wakw rituals that were, at the time, prohibited by Canada's [[potlatch]] prohibition, enacted in 1884 and not rescinded until 1951.<ref name=program />

However, as is noted by the producers who supervised the centennial restoration of the film,

{{blockquote|The most sensational elements of the film—the head hunting, sorcery, and handling of human remains—reflect much earlier practices that had been long abandoned, but which became central elements in Curtis's spectacularized tale. And some activities were never part of Kwakwaka’wakw culture. For example, Curtis borrowed the whaling practices (and the rented whale!) from neighboring groups for what seem to be purely dramatic and cinematic reasons.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://curtisfilm.rutgers.edu|title=Curtis's Landmark 1914 Silent Film of Pacific Northwest First Nations Culture|publisher=[[Rutgers University]]|access-date=2019-09-27}}</ref>}}