The Saver

Prudent economic planning immediately embraced by a determined struggling youth after the sudden death of a loved one, guides Wiebke von Carolsfeld's The Saver through grizzled and gruff gesticulations, problematic pestilence prescribed and perturbing, as young Fern (Imajyn Cardinal) resiliently comes of age.

It's classic hands-on do-it-yourself trial-by-fire pluck.

She's a fighter, doesn't back down from a challenge, instantaneously asserts herself, ruffles feathers while eventually getting-around-to-it, fights off lusty assailants, reflexively dodges youth protection, hoping one day to have saved up a cool million.

Her attitude and inchoate time management skills do cause trouble however, and adjustments must be made, but her uncle Jack (Brandon Oakes) and a forgiving chef (Hamidou Savadogo as Hamidou) help her deconstruct her rigidity, adding a freespirited friendliness to the film which nurtures sympathy and understanding.

The Saver's an odd synthesis of the hardboiled and the heartwarming that directly narrativizes elastic tenacity.

It does combat too swiftly at times, the attempted rape for instance, which is glossed over without much afterthought, but, nevertheless, that is what it's like when you're working two jobs with survival at risk, when something awful happens you don't have much time to consider your feelings before you're back at work focusing on the task at hand, the horror slowly fading into the deluge.

Still, the pace makes it seem like there's nothing wrong, makes it seem like she will persevere no-matter-what at-all-costs, it never seems like her house of cards might tumble, although it's wonderful that it never does, with the accidental curation of a family of rogues.

It's about a strong First Nations young adult frenetically prospering but race is never an issue.

I like how Carolsfeld's script considers race through action and deed as opposed to conflict and persecution.

Films which do examine race in terms of conflict and persecution often work obviously, but perhaps presenting race without politicizing it has considerable merit too.

You can't do this all the time because it does overlook systemic racism and gives the systemic racists cultural leverage, i.e., they continue to prevent people from specific racial groups from working while saying there's nothing wrong, they just aren't working hard enough.

NeverEnding.

Worth seeing.