THE STORY – An investigation into abuse and missing children at an Indian residential school sparks a reckoning on the nearby Sugarcane Reserve.
THE CAST – Charlene Belleau, Ed Archie NoiseCat & Julian Brave NoiseCat
THE TEAM – Julian Brave NoiseCat & Emily Kassie (Directors/Writers)
THE RUNNING TIME – 107 Minutes
As white settlers made their way through North America, claiming the land as their own and forcibly moving Indigenous tribes out of their way, they also provided a place for children. In the name of Manifest Destiny, the white settlers set up residential schools for native children. Here, children were taken from their tribes and placed in Christian schools to learn the way of Catholicism, forcing them to assimilate. While American history classes have stated that this occurred during the time of exploration and colonialism, the schools have remained open for a century. In Canada, the first residential school that forced Indigenous children into these segregated institutions opened in 1894 and the last one closed in 1997. The schools were created for one thing only: to “get rid of the Indian problem” by ripping the Indigenous culture from these children and denying them their community. Additionally – as if this wasn’t already a violation of human rights – they were also subject to the unforgivable abuse that left many students missing, dead, and pregnant. Those who survived their childhood were left completely traumatized into silence or victims of suicide in their adult lives,
“Sugarcane,” which won the Jury Prize for Documentary Direction at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, follows Julian Brave Noisecat (who also directed the film with Emily Kassie), who is looking into unsolved crimes that occurred at his community’s local residential school, St. Joseph’s Residential School in Williams Lake First Nation. The school closed in 1981 due to the numerous rumors of sexual and physical abuse at the hands of the Priests in charge. It is the school his grandmother attended, and also the place where his father was born. During the film, evidence is discovered that the school is near an unmarked gravesite, which may reveal where numerous missing students ended up. During this investigation, Noisecat travels back to his hometown to talk to his grandmother, father, and other survivors of St. Joseph to learn what happened within those walls. The result is an intergenerational journey of the continuing trauma that Indigenous people face at the hands of colonizers that is still felt today.
Noisecat and Kassie tread the fine line of showcasing this investigation, highlighting survivors’ stories and showcasing Noisecat’s family relationship within the film. “Sugarcane” deals with harsh and intense subject matters like physical and sexual abuse, suicide, addiction, and infanticide. But, all of these elements are connected. Several survivors tell the filmmakers that the school brainwashed them, forcing them to forget their Indigenous culture and language in favor of Catholicism. But, these children also experienced abuse from the Priests, including physical and sexual abuse. Because they were occurring to Indigenous children, these crimes were underreported and not taken seriously. Even the reported records of children who went missing (while trying to escape) or were found dead in the woods near the school’s property explicitly state that the school and its leaders are not to be held accountable. Noisecat and Kassie make it evident to the audience that these children experienced the double whammy of being brought up in a corrupt institution like the Catholic Church while also being in a minority that the authorities under report and under protect. These children did not stand a chance, and they knew it. The film is especially effective when a talking head speaks about the number of female students who experienced unwanted pregnancies, the cycle of those pregnancies, the abuse not being believed by their family or authority, the spike of abandoned Indigenous infants who were unclaimed, and the spike of numerous women turning to alcohol as a coping mechanism.
It is here that Noisecat’s family takes center stage as it perfectly showcases the cycle of abuse this community endured. It is revealed that his father was one of the few babies who survived this harsh origin. Noisecat’s grandma, like many of her generation, doesn’t want to bring up old wounds and relive their horrors. However, Noisecat represents the younger generation who wants to know and take the responsibility to listen to their elders’ stories and bear witness as the perpetrators are forced to take responsibility all these years later. Noisecat’s father, Ed, is somewhere in the middle: wanting the knowledge, but also not completely ready to see how the trauma of his creation and abandonment affected his relationship with his son.
“Sugarcane” is a deeply impactful and heavy film that demands its audience to reflect by showcasing how one school affected the lives of many in a community for generations. It may be too heavy, as there are little moments of levity in a film with a runtime just shy of two hours. But, in its heaviness, it shows how Natives are surviving in spite of the centuries of trauma they endured – and are still enduring – at the hands of colonizers. Additionally, the documentary serves to educate non-Indigenous individuals about what is still occurring in North America. As the credits roll, it is stated that there were 139 federally-funded schools in Canada and 408 in America. And, even though the last one closed in 1997, people are still dying as a result of the trauma they endured in these schools. It is evident that North America is not separated by decades from residential schools; rather, they are still directly living with the effects. It is not just a chapter in a history book; we are not as far removed from these horrors as we think we are. Therefore, everyone must bear witness.
