Synopsis
In July 1990, a dispute over a proposed golf course to be built on Kanien’kéhaka (Mohawk) lands in Oka, Quebec, set the stage for a historic confrontation that would grab international headlines and sear itself into the Canadian consciousness. Director Alanis Obomsawin—at times with a small crew, at times alone—spent 78 days behind Kanien’kéhaka lines filming the armed standoff between protestors, the Quebec police and the Canadian army.
A word from Tënk
This film is the reason I became a filmmaker.
I come from Kanehsatà:ke. I grew up in the village of Oka. I was there in 1990. I was 10 years old when the first shots rang out, and 11 when the siege ended. I can't count the number of times I heard false, approximate, misquoted, incomplete, or simply hateful statements in the media during those 78 days of "crisis". That summer, I discovered racism, prejudice, distrust, and hypocrisy. I lost faith in the media and in ordinary people who relied solely on what was reported in the media to form their opinions of my community. I spent my teenage years with a grudge against the media. The biggest truth, the one that finally told our perspective of these events, came with Alanis Obomsawin's documentary. And when I saw it for the first time, at 16, I realized that we could tell our side of the story and that there was room for our stories and our perspectives in the world of arts and media. I realized that we had a duty to take that space for ourselves."I remember looking at the faces of the police officers, they were scared. They were like children. They had never faced such a strong spirit." - Ellen Gabriel (in Kanehsatake 270 Years of Resistance)
This film also bears witness to the strength of the women of Kanehsatà:ke. The Kanien'kehá:ka Nation is matriarchal. It was the women of my community who were the first to the front, the first to defend their motherland. And Alanis Obomsawin's work echoes this fact. She finally gives these inspiring women the chance to tell their side of the story with all their strength, but also with poetry, candor, and wisdom. Alanis spent months with these women. They have developed a relationship of trust and this complicity is palpable in their on-screen interviews.Watching and re-watching Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance is a duty of memory. This film transmits the values, traditions, and culture of Kanien'kehá:ka. It has set the record straight on Indigenous land claims and the true sources of the most important armed conflict in our country's history. It changed Canadian documentary cinema forever.
I have seen the film at least five times since I was sixteen. The last time I saw it, I was very moved. Moved to see again the courage and audacity of the great women of my community whom I greatly admire. Moved to see faces that have since left us for the spirit world. Moved also to see that things have not changed much. My community is still suffering from the consequences of these events and the question of ownership of these lands is still not resolved.
Sonia Bonspille Boileau
Filmmaker
