DiCaprio wins at Golden Globes, urges recognition of indigenous people and lands

After Leonardo DiCaprio won this year's Golden Globe award for best actor in a drama, the star of The Revenant used his acceptance speech to "share this award with all the First Nations people represented in this film."

Among them is eight-year-old Isaiah Tootoosis from the Poundmaker First Nation west of the Battlefords, Sask.

Tootoosis played the son of DiCaprio's character in the film.

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Along with recognizing his co-stars, DiCaprio urged recognition of indigenous people's history and lands.

"It is time that we recognize your history, and that we protect your indigenous lands from corporate interests and people that [are] out there to exploit them," he said. "It is time that we heard your voice and protected this planet for future generations."

The film also included several Canadian aboriginal actors, along with Tootoosis.

In a previous interview with CBC News, Tootoosis said he didn't know much about the star of the film until he returned home and was shown DiCaprio's movies Titanic and Gangs of New York.

His mother, Rachel Berland, said he was a bit bewildered when DiCaprio gave him an autographed picture.

"He handed it to me and was like, 'My movie dad gave this to me and I don't know why," Berland said.

Depictions of First Nations culture in film

Clay Landry, who was the film's historical consultant, joined host Leisha Grebinski on CBC's Saskatoon Morning to talk about how he and two colleagues — Loren Yellowbird and Craig Falcon — ensured indigenous culture and people were accurately portrayed in the film.

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"I just kind of worked in co-ordination with those guys," Landry said. "If I had any questions about what we were doing on the presentation of native culture, I would go to those two guys."

Yellowbird taught the film's actors the various indigenous languages heard in the film, like Pawnee or Lakota, Landry said.

Craig Falcon gave advice on culture presentation for the film.

"Those two guys would always tell me, 'We're watching everything because you know who our friends, neighbours and relatives are going to come to if they see something in this film that they think doesn't fit. They're going to be calling us up,'" he said.