The Education Of Little Tree

An orphan boy during the Depression learns to live in harmony with nature when he goes to live with his grandfather and his Cherokee wife. Sincerely indulging all the usual cliches about the superiority of nature over the ways of the white man, THE EDUCATION OF LITTLE TREE is a pleasant enough family film despite its libertarian leanings.

Tennessee, 1935. Eight-year-old Little Tree (Joseph Ashton) goes to live in the Smoky Mountains with his grandparents (James Cromwell, Tantoo Cardinal). Marriage to a Cherokee woman, Grandpa says, has shown him the evils of civilization. He has tried to learn what the Cherokee call "The Way," and hopes to pass this approach to...