This film hits on multiple very important issues and I’m grateful to see a light being shined on them. This review may be long but I believe it’s an important discussion to have.
I’m a Native American myself I live on reserve, and I work in Indigenous politics. The first thing I noticed and appreciated was a light being shined on the under resourced of tribal police, the truth is they can’t do much at all with the resources given and in the case of reserves in Canada where I’m from many reserves such as mine do not have any police force, and the program we do have is peacekeepers who in reality can’t do anything.
The next thing I appreciated seeing was the jurisdictional nightmare that is Indigenous reserves, in both Canada and the US they are federal land which makes policing and enforcement a nightmare. In the case of my reserve this is very much the case and sadly it continues to allow criminal activity to fester on our reserves as the mechanisms for enforcement are so much more restrictive and in many cases works against us. The situation of enforcement in Indigenous reserves in Canada still to this day aids in the perpetuation of criminal activity that plagues so many of our reserves. In Canada we have no real legal pathway to enforce our bylaws which causes many issues where since Canada is a federal system power is divided amongst provinces and the federal government, therefore so is laws; the issue arises as laws and statutes pertaining to many key issues fall under the provinces jurisdiction, however Indigenous reserves are federal jurisdiction which creates substantial gaps in legal pathways towards protecting our communities.
And the third and thing I’m most grateful for seeing represented in film was the discussion of Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls. This is a massive issue in both Canada and the United States, Indigenous women and Girls are substantially over represented in these categories. Not only in the rate of these occurrences but in the rate of these crimes going unsolved. There are many deep systemic issues especially in the Canadian system that need to be changed and addressed if we want this issue to be resolved.
One thing I’m sure many people may have missed was in the second to final scene where he enters the upstairs bedroom hanging from the door you can find two hanging red dresses, something small signifies a great deal, it represents the Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls, a silent but powerful message that directly calls the government to address the systemic issues which aid in perpetuating this violence towards the most vulnerable in our population.
I know some people hold against this movie that both main characters were white people but I don’t. One I think it’s amazing to have someone like Renner, who will bring eyes to this issue on a mainstream level. Two, the FBI person being white just made sense as I previously discussed the jurisdictional nightmare that is Indigenous communities an outsider would make sense in a case like this. And another note the director themselves is a white person he didn’t want to portray the issue from an Indigenous perspective because he himself does not have one and that would’ve been inauthentic, however he still felt moved to want to make a film addressing these issues, and having Renee’s character have an indigenous family and that he works for the community is also a reality in many Indigenous communities so it’s not as out there as some people are making it out to be.
And also just on the film itself, it was very well done, and frankly a very enjoyable but at times heavy and dark experience to watch. The film held my interest the entire time, the mystery and the twist in the story was very well done I was not expecting it to end like that at all that action scene at the end actually so good.
This film hits on multiple very important issues and I’m grateful to see a light being shined on them. This review may be long but I believe it’s an important discussion to have.
I’m a Native American myself I live on reserve, and I work in Indigenous politics. The first thing I noticed and appreciated was a light being shined on the under resourced of tribal police, the truth is they can’t do much at all with the resources given and in the case of reserves in Canada where I’m from many reserves such as mine do not have any police force, and the program we do have is peacekeepers who in reality can’t do anything.
The next thing I appreciated seeing was the jurisdictional nightmare that is Indigenous reserves, in both Canada and the US they are federal land which makes policing and enforcement a nightmare. In the case of my reserve this is very much the case and sadly it continues to allow criminal activity to fester on our reserves as the mechanisms for enforcement are so much more restrictive and in many cases works against us. The situation of enforcement in Indigenous reserves in Canada still to this day aids in the perpetuation of criminal activity that plagues so many of our reserves. In Canada we have no real legal pathway to enforce our bylaws which causes many issues where since Canada is a federal system power is divided amongst provinces and the federal government, therefore so is laws; the issue arises as laws and statutes pertaining to many key issues fall under the provinces jurisdiction, however Indigenous reserves are federal jurisdiction which creates substantial gaps in legal pathways towards protecting our communities.
And the third and thing I’m most grateful for seeing represented in film was the discussion of Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls. This is a massive issue in both Canada and the United States, Indigenous women and Girls are substantially over represented in these categories. Not only in the rate of these occurrences but in the rate of these crimes going unsolved. There are many deep systemic issues especially in the Canadian system that need to be changed and addressed if we want this issue to be resolved.
One thing I’m sure many people may have missed was in the second to final scene where he enters the upstairs bedroom hanging from the door you can find two hanging red dresses, something small signifies a great deal, it represents the Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women and Girls, a silent but powerful message that directly calls the government to address the systemic issues which aid in perpetuating this violence towards the most vulnerable in our population.
I know some people hold against this movie that both main characters were white people but I don’t. One I think it’s amazing to have someone like Renner, who will bring eyes to this issue on a mainstream level. Two, the FBI person being white just made sense as I previously discussed the jurisdictional nightmare that is Indigenous communities an outsider would make sense in a case like this. And another note the director themselves is a white person he didn’t want to portray the issue from an Indigenous perspective because he himself does not have one and that would’ve been inauthentic, however he still felt moved to want to make a film addressing these issues, and having Renee’s character have an indigenous family and that he works for the community is also a reality in many Indigenous communities so it’s not as out there as some people are making it out to be.
And also just on the film itself, it was very well done, and frankly a very enjoyable but at times heavy and dark experience to watch. The film held my interest the entire time, the mystery and the twist in the story was very well done I was not expecting it to end like that at all that action scene at the end actually so good.
