WISDOM OF THE SAGES
EPISODE XI: FALL 2023
Hello People of the World;
November becomes my busiest month in regards to my presentation.
As always: Stay safe. Stay home.
All right, let’s get going:
1:[ This virus really showed how equal we all really are: How much we really don’t care about the least of us….
2:[ MOVIE REVIEWS:
“Bones of Crows” directed by Marie Clements
First Nations Film and Video Festival
Facets
Another tough one. About the boarding school experience and the generational trauma it brought about. Tells the story of Grace Dove, a Cree woman who survived the Canadian residential school system and later serves as a Code Talker in WWII and the effects it has had on her, her parents and her children.
I saw this a co-director of FNFVF and this was the opening program. We screen a lot of Canadian feature films, mostly because it is damn hard to get a feature film made by a Native without to dictating hand of Sundance Institute.
This is an important story as it has deep connection and reflection to the boarding school story here in the US and the Natives here. But I guess I could have done without all the rape scenes. I mean, I understand the context and the need to show traumatic events, but it never showed the suicides on-screen which were also a huge part of the traumas. I mean, if we don't let a film like "Wind River" get away with showing a woman get raped...?
Anyways, like I said, films aren't critic-proof. And it's still a tough watch and a needed story to be told.
HIGH RECOMMENDATION
BEST OF 2023
“Hey Viktor!” Directed by Cody Lightning
First Nations Film and Video Festival
Music Box Theatre
This was a great capper to the FNFVF this fall. Cody Lightning's directorial debut is funny, endearing, dirty, and just a breath of fresh air in the Native cinema landscape. I don't find Natives to be funny when they try to be funny. It all comes off as variations of "Look, that Native is eating a hot dog" type of cringe.
This is a mockumentary about a fictionalized version of Cody Lightning, whom achieved a kind of stardom as a child by acting in the renowned film "Smoke Signals", as he tries to fund and film a sequel to revive his career.
But the writing of this, attaching it to a story that can connect to many different people yet is able to maintain an Indigenous perspective and humor on things. It satirizes the whole "Famous Native" attitude that happens in the community in large.
It is running the festival circuit right now in the US, but has gained theatrical distribution in Canada for 2024! Meaning the FNFVF was one of the first to bring it to US audiences.
A very funny movie.
HIGH RECOMMENDATION
BEST OF 2023
3:[ This Month’s Short Essay:
I think about my dad a lot. At least once a day. Same with my mom. I miss him. Though I have learned in the time since he left us, that he was just a human being, fallible as any other person. We feared his anger and dreaded his drink. But he was tender with us most times and fun in many more others. I remember riding through the housing as he delivered meals to senior citizens and selling soda to everyone else. I have also learned my dad always had a side-hustle. That explains so much.
We often do not think about how our parents had lives before becoming our parents. They had hopes and dreams and traumas and triumphs. Most of his life before he became my dad I had heard about secondhand. He never talked about his childhood, he never talked much about his war experience. One story I heard from his mouth was told in the dark of the bedroom as my brother was going through a rough patch and though eleven years older than I am, cried for his dad. My dad told him a story of his war experience. I heard the story as I was awake and it made me scared and sad for my dad.
My father was untraditional in many senses. He gave us our Arapaho names. He rarely took part in ceremony, at least as far as I know. But he and I had many, many small conversations about the world. Especially near his end. I was curious about how he saw the world and he let me know. Let's just say: my father was untraditional in many senses.
I remember borrowing him my Batman: Year One comics. We talked about comic books once and I had asked him if he read comics as a boy. He admitted he did not but knew about Superman and the like. So, I loaned him my Batman: Year One issues. I had bought them first print off-the-rack and wanted his take on the story. But being a stupid kid, could not be long without my precious Batman comics and asked for them back. He never got to read them. I wish I gave him time to read them.
My father was the first in his family, to be born a US citizen, with the Indian Citizenship Act being passed that June of his birth year. Weird to think of that.
They say what does not come out in us, comes out in our children, the best of both our parents inform who we are. I hope that is true as I tried to be the father he was and wasn't.
I miss him. He is still my biggest hero. This is his birthday month.
4:[ Observation: Starting an FB post series
What's so great about the Good Ol' Days? #1:
You know you're Old when you see folks being "nostalgic" for the violence of Black Fridays, instead of being content with being safe and sound at home with our online sales. Thinking we’re special ‘cause “we lived through” something…. We’re not. We’re not special. We all live through something. It’s called a life.
5:[ We cannot go back to “Normal” all after this: thinking that fresh water is a infinite resource.
That is it for this month.
As always, I invite you to comment, correct, or contradict anything I write here. I am open to a critical debate. Thanks for taking the time to check out what I write here and I will see you in a month.
Until next time, remember “I try to show the schemers how pathetic their attempts to control everything really are.”
2023 Ernest M Whiteman III
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