Silent Tongue (1993)

In the heart of Indian Territory, circa 1873, Silent Tongue spins a tale of grief-stricken Talbot Roe, teetering on the brink of madness after the death of his Kiowa wife, Awbonnie. Tormented by her unquiet spirit, which haunts him due to his refusal to perform her last rites, he guards her lifeless body under a barren tree, lost to the world. His desperate father, Prescott Roe, a man of business and barter, sees salvation in Awbonnie's sister, Velada. Prescott endeavors to purchase her from the same nomadic carnival from which he had acquired Awbonnie, hoping she might pull his son back from the precipice of insanity. Eamon McCree, the carnival master and girls' father, is open to this transaction, but Velada's half-brother, Reeves, obstructs the deal, forcing Prescott to resort to desperate measures. In a twist of fate, Prescott abducts Velada, offering her a chance to escape her father's clutches in return for saving his son. As Talbot's obsession with his dead wife intensifies, Awbonnie's wrathful ghost wreaks havoc on those involved in her sale, making her presence known with a tumultuous uproar of runaway horses and spectral sightings. Meanwhile, Eamon and Reeves scour the vast prairie for Velada, their journey punctuated by Eamon's drunken bouts of cowardice and selfishness. As the rest of the carnival troupe abandons their detestable master and heads back east, Reeves is left alone in his relentless quest for his half-sister. Back at the gravesite, Talbot remains distrusting of any who dare to separate him from Awbonnie's corpse. In a climactic confrontation with the spectral chaos, Prescott manages to cast her remains into a blazing fire, leading to a sudden awakening in Talbot, and a spectral appearance of Awbonnie in the flames, finally finding her peace. Left behind in the wilderness, Eamon meets a grim fate at the hands of the local Indians, while Talbot, Prescott, and Velada find a measure of solace and resolution, their lives forever woven together by the threads of love, loss, and the haunting specter of the Silent Tongue.

Silent Tongue is a drama movie featuring Alan Bates and directed by Sam Shepard.

It is possible to buy Silent Tongue on Amazon Video, Google Play Movies, Vudu and YouTube.