Based on a true events from the life of director/co-writer Tracey Deer: in the summer of 1990, the town of Oka, Quebec has allowed an expansion of a golf course to be built on sacred burial grounds of the First Nations Mohawk people. Tekehentakhwa aka Beans (played by Kiawentiio Tarbell) is a pre-teen Mohawk whose coming-of-age is greatly tainted by the battle of her people against nearby locals and the police.
This film is a very welcome account of one of the worst periods in recent Canadian history. The fact that it is personal makes it even more welcome.
Deer shows great skill especially in filming some very grueling battle/conflict scenes. The personal stories, though, have a somewhat mixed result. Scenes of Beans' emulation of a pair of older neighbourhood siblings (a rough girl and her attractive brother, also rough) are sometimes unconvincing and uncomfortable. But the scenes of her family (parents and a younger sister) are always deeply moving. They cover life's usual growing pains that are exacerbated by the conflict and the exposure of a wicked prejudice. And they are highlighted by the solid performance of Rainbow Dickerson who plays Beans' mother, Lily. Lily is the central force of the family and in her community especially in a scene when she gathers other women in a bold, courageous act that prevents a disaster. Dickerson has all that it takes in her portrayal of this major character and life-force.
The use of historical news footage of the conflict is very powerful. So is the mention of the fact that some locals were in economic hardship as a result of the blockades while not using this an excuse for terrible actions. This is also a very timely film considering recent discoveries of past horrors involving Canadian residential schools and the cruel treatment of the late Joyce Echaquan at a Quebec hospital.
Relevant and powerful. - dbamateurcritic.
