‘Sugarcane’ review: a healing documentary about intergenerational trauma

Director: Emily Kassie, Julian Valiente NoiseCat | Script: Chris Smith|Playing time: 108 minutes | Year: 2024

In Sugarcane A First Nations community in Canada is investigating abuse at former boarding schools for “Indian children.” Beginning in 1894, priests transported hundreds of thousands of indigenous students from Canada to these segregated schools. This documentary brings to light the years of isolation, indoctrination and sexual abuse. In the picturesque landscape of Williams Lake, the search for the mystery of the unmarked graves next to the schools seems particularly surreal. The trauma is also palpable without many words among the inhabitants of the Sugar Cane reservation. A brave and healing story without unnecessary sensations.

The documentary starts slowly with beautiful lakes and snowy landscapes. And that immediately sets the right tone. The director approaches the witnesses, older people from his own community, with the necessary caution. about the native field loopfestival in the Sugar Cane Reserve, we meet documentary filmmaker Julian Brave Noisekat and his community. They celebrate surviving schools as a people. And they do it in Canadian style: with a traditional dance and music show.

During the party and some family visits, the viewer sees the silent trauma on the faces of the older generation. Little by little they tell more about the horrors that hide behind the closed doors of the boarding school. Unresolved pain often remained hidden for decades behind carefully cultivated feelings of shame. From time to time a family member will utter a meaningful phrase like “those who told us what was sinful were the ones who did all the action.”

Investigators reconstructing child murders are also not outside police officers, but experts by experience, victims who are still alive. An investigation for and by a community that defends itself. But that sense of community is not the only thing that characterizes these ‘First Peoples’. The emotional and social damage still continues. An intergenerational trauma that dominates everyday life.

One of the ways to escape that harsh truth is with narcotics: alcohol or tobacco leaves. It also played an important role in the life of the documentary filmmaker and his father. It follows the story of a broken family, fear of abandonment and a possible rapprochement. It is to the documentary filmmaker’s credit that he provides information about his personal family history and does not overlook anything.

This makes the viewer feel less like an intruder and more like a welcome guest in a special story. The time has come to expose this ecclesiastical scandal and let it sink in. But not everyone sympathizes equally. This becomes evident after a rehearsed apology song from the Pope and a half-hearted request for forgiveness from a bishop. Apparently the Catholic Church still puts aside that bad PR too quickly.

But this story of a son and his father is also about slow recovery, overcoming shame and finding support in those around you. and that does Sugarcane Immediately so special. This documentary has not only affected the viewers. It also provides a funnel for the repressed feelings of an entire town. And who knows, maybe even a new beginning. Finally, this film highlights brave testimonies with beautiful and healing images of nature.

Sugarcane can be seen in Disney+.