Indian Horse - Review

Canadian Movies. They always seem to have a negative connotation towards them. Whether that be because of budget constraints, or because there isn't enough talent on the project, most Canadian films just aren't very good. However, there are some Canadian films out there that are actually pretty enjoyable with great stories, except distribution is extremely difficult because of the overabundance of American, Hollywood films in the marketplace and lack of money and quotas on Canadian content. And let me state clearly that a film is considered Canadian when it is funded by Canadian dollars. So for example, Juno is an American film because it was funded by American money. It doesn't matter that the movie had a Canadian director, producer, and screenwriter, the two main stars are Canadian, filmed with a Canadian crew in a Canadian city (my hometown Vancouver). American dollars means American content. However, here comes a Canadian movie that deals with Canadian history, Canadian issues and is actually a well-made movie. So this movie is based on the fictional novel written by Richard Wagamese but it takes inspiration from real life events. It is well known that America has a dark history in terms of slavery, however, many people do not know that Canada has a dark history too. For us, they were the residential schools. Schools for Indigenous children to forget about their native cultures and customs and turn into children of God. Run by Catholic priests, if the children stepped out of line, spoke their native language, or did anything the priests considered blasphemous, they were beaten, molested, locked in a cage in the basement, all sorts of things. Thousands died in these schools from mistreatment, suicide and many survivors would end up living lives full of PTSD and would turn to drugs, alcohol and would face constant scrutiny. This was all very real. The director of this movie was the camera operator for Clint Eastwood and when he found out about this story, he couldn't believe it. He was shocked that very many people don't know about this stuff. Even a Canadian like myself didn't learn about it until I was twenty years old. Clint Eastwood wanted this story to be told and seen so much that he signed on as Executive Producer. So for that reason alone, you should this movie because horrible acts like this should be known so that we can learn from them. As for the movie itself, I was very surprised how much I was sucked into the story about a kid who is taken away from his family, raised in one of these schools and finds his happiness in Canada's sport, hockey. The only gripe about the movie that I have is that some of the actors may not be the best at their craft, but I give it a pass only because there is so much passion in these actors that you can tell that this story touches them in a way. Overall, I think everyone should see this movie not just because it's about a subject matter that more people need to know about, but because it is wrapped up into a well-made movie, especially knowing that it's a Canadian movie without all the benefits of Hollywood studios and marketing behind it. I mean, having Clint Eastwood as an Executive Producer certainly helps. Lastly, I want to mention that I have seen movies that tackle subject matter like this with the hopes of it's audience learning about a certain type of discrimination going on in our society. However, when a movie comes along trying to do that, it's often hard to criticize it because if you criticize a movie for trying to make a difference, it's very easy to look bad. "Oh, this white guy hates Indian Horse. What a shocker. Just another uneducated racist white bigot." But I'm telling you guys that this movie is good. It's not Oscar worthy or even a movie that you need to own on Blu-Ray, but it's a good movie tackling a subject matter that more people should know about.