It's not often you find a gripping thriller that combines a moving human interest story and is also based, however loosely, on a true story. Val Kilmer excels in this engaging story directed by Michael Apted, which manages to impart a deal of information about native American Indian culture without being preachy or sickly sweet. The high tension is relieved by the occasional wrily humorous moment made even funnier by Kilmer's superb comic timing, but it is the subplot of a "Washington Redskin" coming to terms with his cultural heritage that really makes this a stand-out movie.

Investigations into a series of mysterious homicides on a Sioux Indian reservation in the Badlands of South Dakota are not going well. The murders fall within Federal jurisdiction, but the FBI is finding it difficult to gather information from the native Sioux.

Inexperienced FBI man Ray Levoi (Kilmer) has a Sioux background and is sent to a reservation to help with the murder investigation. His exposure to his familial roots and heritage is an uncomfortable journey at first, but slowly he begins to identify with the Indians and rejects the intimidating tactics of his fellow FBI agents, who are more interested in covering up an incriminating situation. As trust develops between Levoi and the Reservation inhabitants he begins to uncover the truth behind the murders.

Thunderheart: BBC One, Monday 2 July, 11.35pm

Worth a look:
Mission to Mars: ITV1, Saturday 30 June, 2.15pm
The Insider: ITV4, Monday 2 July, 12.15am
The Hustler: Film4, Thursday 5 July, 1.10am
The Elephant Man: ITV3, Friday 6 July, 9.10pm