Prey 2022 follows Naru, an indigenous warrior, set in 1719 where she faces the Predator, a technologically advanced alien. The movie featured beautiful scenery and memorable editing. As well as accurate indigenous representation and breaking away from racist stereotypes and generic Hollywood characters.
Starting at 7:26 the camera follows Naru as she walks around the camp, giving you a feel of the community and environment. The scene was a long/low angle shot, filmed for 1 minute straight. The second notable scene started at 47:03 and featured multiple angles that continuously, and very seamlessly, jumped around. It provided clear visuals of the scene, and the constant angle jumping matched the chaos and stress of the situation. My last scene started at 68:23 having no cuts and handheld camera movements, making you feel as though you’re there. The camera follows Narus movements, and when she uses her knife it follows those movements instead. There was also a part in that scene where one of the attackers lunges at her and the camera dodges the attack, mirroring Naru.
The Predator, The French, and The Comanche are displayed differently. The Comanche people have their community and cooperate with each other, they are emotionally aware, kill for survival, and have respect for each other and the dead. The French are seen to be destructive and even dehumanizing towards the Comanche people. They were about to kill an innocent dog, and tortured Naru’s brother, then later used them as bait. They killed and skinned dozens of buffalos to gain their hides as trophies. The Predator prioritized power and dominance through violence and competition. It displayed emotionless aggression just to prove it is the strongest. The French and the Predator had similarities shared between them. They both relied on the weapons and tools they had, and harmed whatever got in their way. They both undermined Naru and took trophies from their animal victims.
Prey breaks free from character stereotypes, the characters in this show compassion, and express emotion rather than emotional restraint. They were all lean instead of sculpted big men. They used their surroundings and mind to help achieve victory, rather than brute force and control over nature and enemies. Naru herself breaks from those stereotypes — instead of being respected immediately, or seen as someone who holds power, she must prove herself, and uses her imagination, surroundings, and animal companion to defeat the threats.
This film does a wonderful job at representing ingenious people and culture. They used real native american actors, they consistently spoke the Comanche language, and used accurate historical devices, medicine, and traditions. Proper ululation was used without being a mockery and they were all displayed as real genuine human beings with feelings, thoughts, and relatable behavior. Naru herself is not there to help the white men; she is instead the hero, and the colonizers were part of the threat. Her character flips power dynamics by having her kill the French, and outsmart the Predator.
I am not a big fan of alien movies, but this movie was a good one. It had cool fight scenes that weren’t all guns and bombs, Naru has depth and skill, there was considerate representation, and had a good ending.
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