SGaawaay K'uuna

A fantastic modern retelling of an indigenous story, set on stunning Haida Gwaii island off the west coast of Canada. Perfect pacing and some breathtaking scenes throughout. The ending is something of a surprise, when compared to the usual Hollywood fare of Good Guy kills Bad Guy. Here the outcome is through community trials and practice. Wow.

This is a believable story about the natives of Haida Gwaii. I'd like to see more stories and depictions of indigenous peoples and their way of life, prior to the invasion of Europeans and British to the Americas. We know the impact of how the indigenous peoples suffered diseases passed on by the settlers, and violence and murder were inevitable between the indigenous and pilgrims/settlers in their new country, one of which they claimed as "uninhabited" and therefore theirs; in other words "finders keepers" with no remorse over consequences becoming indignant if they fought back, resulted in the loss of life on both sides. It's reverberated over hundreds of generations to the present day. History can be made interesting in this way, palatable to all those studying history.

SGaawaay K'uuna (Edge of the Night) is the first feature film entirely in the Haida language. The filmmakers hope to use the film as an educational tool to encourage fluency - there are currently less than 25 fluent Haida speakers in the world. Crafted from a popular story, SGaawaay K'uuna is set in 19th century Haida Gwaii. Adiits'ii is charming and carefree and his recklessness causes a horrific tragedy. Tormented by what he has done, evil spirits are able to enter his body and transform him into Gaagiixid, a devouring supernatural being.

From the depictions of everyday, pre-colonial life to Adiits'ii's horrifying transformation and his family's generosity and forgiveness, this film takes an oral history and makes it into a beautiful, multifaceted film. If you don't get a chance to catch it at TIFF, SGaawaay K'uuna is the closing film for next month's imagineNATIVE film festival. I guarantee this film will be in Canada's Top Ten in January. It's so important. Please watch it.

This is a successful telling of a Haida folk legend - it effectively brings to life and adds emotional depth to what would seem to the outsider as just a simple myth.

The performances are good, though the dialogue feels quite formal and a bit artificial in its pauses and slowness; I get the impression that that this is from the challenge of a script in a language that is almost extinct. The most effective scenes, from an acting perspective, occur when there is little dialogue and more body language.

The script is very well written and focused on telling a simple story.

Art and set design, cinematography...the actual visual portraying of this world is a triumph. I'm very grateful for the opportunity to observe the Haida people's traditions in their beautiful home.

A powerful film, with a meaningful story set against an incredible landscape. An example of what madness could look like.

Anyone who rates this a 1 or a 2 just does not get the film on any level. This is not an action film, a sci fi film or a horror film. It is about ancient Haida lore.

To appreciate the movie, learn about the culture. Go visit the people. We did and the film now seems very "normal".