Courtesy EMA Films
Movies
Midway through 1990, Tekehentahkhwa, nicknamed Beans by her circle, (Kiawenti:io Tarbell, Mohawk) comes of age just as her world falls apart. Quebec’s Oka Crisis explodes as developers try to build on sacred land of the Mohawk people, leading to a tense standoff that results in major transportation shutdowns. Hostilities from nearby white residents, shootouts and starvation become the norm—all while Beans wants to hang out with the cool kids down the block who aren’t stellar influences.
A blend of documentary footage fills the gaps where Beans’ budget doesn’t allow massive set pieces. This curated collection of reactions to Native agency range from the somewhat-annoyed to the outright genocidal. Its contrast with Beans’ typical coming-of-age tale, so familiar in its beats, hits hard after so long—the normalcy of the Mohawk people dealing with everyday problems, like a young girl wanting to be strong and fit in, is framed by the dramatic irony of knowing that stepping off the rez could be life or death.
Beans feels too separated from the main plot of the resistance, however. But that might be the point given how director Tracey Deer (Mohawk) drew upon her own experiences as a child in the midst of the standoff. In these scenes, Beans goes for the jugular. It’d be hard not to get a lump in the throat as a mother (Rainbow Dickerson, Rappahannock) tries to drive her children through a mob of people shattering her windows and threatening to murder anyone on the barricades.
Even so, Beans has numerous familiar story beats and probably won’t win accolades for its writing. Deer tries to get naturalism out of her actors, but it mostly feels forced. Given what’s at stake, maybe the technical matters should have come second. If a bit wobbly, Beans reminds the non-Native viewer that Indigenous agency is a far-reaching idea shaped by many factors beyond merely resisting oppression. Indigenous folks are, in fact, complex people defined by many factors outside of their race—something conspicuously absent in a medium where Native people themselves are still conspicuously absent. In that sense, Beans may be a triumph.
7
+ Strong themes of modern Indigenous life
- Somewhat uneven; blatantly repetitive
Beans
Directed by Deer
With Tarbell, Dickerson and Paulina Alexis (Nakoda)
CCA, NR, 92 min
