Through Black Spruce

A family grieves the disappearance of a loved one, as a distraught daring twin sister (Tanaya Beatty as Annie) heads to Toronto in search of answers.

Uncertain if she'll find anything, and proceeding without much to go on, she follows her only leads, and soon meets her sister's last contacts.

Last known contacts.

Back home her caring uncle (Brandon Oakes as Will) has problems, for he's angered a group of thugs who tend to express themselves viciously.

He's trying to unobtrusively get by, but finds himself branded a person of interest.

He's soon hiding out on a remote island, while his niece runs into troubles of her own.

Rough, gruelling, dire anxious realities, jurisprudently stitched, in tragic combative song.

The characters in Don McKellar's Through Black Spruce find themselves living in contrasting environments, one chill and peaceful, the other harsh and violent.

Living within them tragically bewilders, as conflicts which they had nothing to do with assault wholesome fun initiatives.

An act of healing, a gentle harmless letter sent off to put minds at ease, provokes extreme tension, and disrupts otherwise blooming friendships.

And a career.

The film athletically unreels with hard-edged sophistication, presenting diverse accessible scenes with a tough gritty concerned sensibility.

A fireside chat in Toronto, hunting together in James Bay, introductions to the art world, with specific takes on the discipline of photography.

For instance.

The blend of the two storylines could have been smoother though, as extended time intervals separate the tales from one another.

But since one storyline's urban and the other's set far away, the different paces, the different immersions, may have produced unsought after shocks, had they been edited and merged more consistently.

The lengthy immersions do creatively pull you into different aspects of Indigenous life, notably the non-toxic bug spray, and the extended time gives each of them their own lifeforce, lifeforces which may not have blossomed had they been cut more regularly.

It's nice to see long patient scenes.

And stories about First Nations people that aren't filled with violence.

What happened to Annie's twin remains a mystery, another sad story in an extreme crisis that effects all of Canada and elsewhere.

If the same percentage of woman of European descent disappeared or were murdered as often as their First Nations Canadian sisters, I imagine governments would enlist armies to find a solution to the problem.

To the extreme crisis.

This is no exaggeration.

The statistics are plain as day.

There needs to be a strong will to make Canada safe for these women.

The racist realities of which should be considered.

Good film.

Love Brandon Oakes.