Pisaries Creator

This is one of the most engaging and truthful documentaries I’ve watched in a long time. It doesn’t surprise me how religion once again intersects negatively within and between certain groups. These different cultural personal histories reaches beyond where there’s a lot of larger contradictions in so called justified behavior as well as painful truths within indigenous groups and the Catholic Church. I don’t think anyone today would even try to convincingly argue that killing babies is acceptable and yet this happened. I don’t think anyone can deny what mixed DNA among adult Native survivors means. Nor can anyone refute the evidence of unmarked graves at one of these Catholic schools. The survivors continue to carry terrible flashbacks and memories of past violence including physical and sexual assault.

Sugarcane is titled after one of the Canadian reservations and co-directed by Julian Brave Noisecat and Emily Kassie. The running time is one hour and 47 minutes. The events specifically occurred at the St. Joseph Mission in British Columbia where they schooled Native children. This school was one of hundreds at the time operating from the 1880s and finally ending in the 1990s. These schools not only broke families apart but created divisions and confusion within the different generations. Native parents felt guilty for abandoning their children, which later lead to them not forgiving themselves for what they did. The children that survived often had friends that died from disease, neglect, or suicide and all of this contributed to some of them turning to drugs and alcohol to temper and deal with their emotions. This caused issues when they had families of their own as highlighted in the relationship between Ed Archie Noisecat and his son Julian.

This generational trauma created heartache and strength. Finding any kind of peace and healing in this tragedy is just as important as accountability for past wrongdoings and this is how the documentary ends. There’s more to uncover and justice hasn’t been served to some, but strides have been made, and some questions have been answered. I would recommend anyone to watch this because the story has it all: personal hardship, child and parent relationship, family healing, cultural resilience, community building, and renewed faith.

I rate Sugarcane FIVE FINGERS and ONE THUMB at 100%.