Summary

BURY THE HATCHET is a portrait of three Mardi Gras Indian “Big Chiefs” of New Orleans, descendants of runaway slaves taken in long ago by the Native Americans of the Louisiana bayous. Once plagued by intertribal violence, today these African-American tribes take to the backstreets of New Orleans on Mardi Gras, dressed in elaborate Native-American influenced costumes they've sewn over the course of the year. When tribes meet, instead of attacking each other with hatchets and knives, they battle over which Chief has the prettiest suit. Director Aaron Walker's 5-year-long intimate entry into this often hidden New Orleans experience also reveals other battles the Chiefs face every day: harassment by the police, gentrification of their neighborhoods, disinterested youth, old age, and natural disaster. Still, the Chiefs prove their determination to survive.