Sugarcane

Movie: Sugarcane

Running Time: 1:47

Nominated for: Best Documentary

How I watched: Hulu

When it had me: Indigenous Culture

When it lost me: It did not

What systems does it challenge: Residential Schools, Abuse, Colonization

This doc is about Reservation Schools in Canada. Those are the schools that indigenous people were sent to in order to destroy their culture and their spirit and make them more useful and controllable for white people. If you think it might be gut-wrenching, you are correct.

I think the structure of this doc is very smart. We follow a father and son trying to learn the father's history while attempting to reconcile their own interpersonal issues. We follow a half indigenous, half irish man trying to grapple with his identity and his catholic faith. And we follow a team of investigators trying to uncover the systemic and perpetual cycle of sexual abuse and infanticide at on such reservation school. Many angles are covered in many ways through this method and the editing is top notch, weaving together stories in a way that is both easy to follow, artful and respectful.

The film makers treat each subject with grave respect and discretion, cutting away when the stories are too tough to tell onscreen, and giving us time to see them joyful and not just victimized. I appreciated how all of the characters were portrayed and the tougher moments were addressed.

This was a great subject, well handled and artfully presented!