Waapake(Tomorrow) Powerful, Heartbreaking & Candid Conversations Of The Impacts Of Residential Schools in Canada- Documentary(NFB)--The Vancouver International Film Festival
Dr. Jules Arita Koostachin’s deeply personal documentary unravels the tangled threads of silence suffered by residential school Survivors through truth, freedom, and power.
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| Dr. Jules Arita Koostachin, Attawapiskat First Nation, Director of WaaPaKe. Photo credit: Image from the film - Courtesy of National Film Board of Canada. |
I have seen a number of, either based on truth, or fictional movies on the residential school system that happened for decades here in Canada. Here in Waapake(Tomorrow), we hear stories from Rita Okimawinninew, Jules Koostachin's mother, and the horrible atrocities that the young children faced on a daily basis.
Very open and honest conversations with family and friends in regards to what impact it has had on their lives being raised by someone who has such trauma from all of the years of abuse.
Jules Koostachin shares her thoughts on her upbringing and is very candid and open about it all, I think it takes a lot of courage to open up about things on camera for the world to see, but I am sure she is not alone in her thoughts and emotions. There are tragically so many that were abused, even sadder is the fact that a lot of those children never made it back home again.
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| Rita Okimawinninew, Attawapiskat First Nation, and her siblings - archive picture. Photo credit: Image from the film - Courtesy of National Film Board of Canada. |
I really liked how the images were shown to the audience as if we are sitting at a table and shown pictures that never made it to a photo album, they slide up into the frame, which really makes for a more personal connection to the people being spoken of.
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| Asivak Koostachin, Attawapiskat First Nation. Photo credit: Image from the film - Courtesy of National Film Board of Canada. |
She speaks with her oldest son and his thoughts on what his grandmother went through and how it has impacted his life, on not having the traditional practices of hunting, etc. that would have been passed down to him from his elders. They, themselves did not know how to as they were raised in residential schools and were not allowed to speak their own language, they all wore the same clothes and even had the same haircut.
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| Joseph Dandurand, Kwantlen First Nation. Photo credit: Image from the film - Courtesy of National Film Board of Canada. |
Joseph has been through a lot as he also was raised by his mother who was in a residential school. She is now battling Parkinson's'. Joesph shares a story that when his mother was just 5 years old she had wet the bed and the nuns had forced her to wear it as clothing the next day.
He was abused in elementary school and dropped out early, but now tells kids to stay in school. He likes to lose himself in fishing by himself, or writing poetry or a story.
This is a wonderfully put-together documentary, with a little added spark across the screen(literally)which is of course added on digitally afterward, however, it brings a certain feel to the film. It really gave me a better understanding of how three different generations of the Koostachin family share their stories and feelings on the events that have impacted their family history.
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| Maisie Smith, Champagne, and Aishihik First Nations. Photo credit: Image from the film - Courtesy of National Film Board of Canada. |
The cinematography is beautiful throughout the film, often the armrests on the chairs for the interviews are changed, and images and the background images are so wonderfully used.
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