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February 13, 2019
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A Hunger for More Films Like This
The third on my list of the best
films of 2018, “Hochelaga: Land
of Souls,” didn’t have a U.S. the-
atrical release and is available for
streaming only in Canada. I saw it
at the Portland International Fes-
tival and actually had the DVD
shipped to me via the Canadian
branch of Amazon’s platform so
that I could watch it again.
So why am I bothering to put it
on my list of the year’s best films?
Because I really want people to
see it, even if it means ordering it
from Canada (or maybe persuad-
ing Movie Madness to purchase it
so you can rent it). Although it’s
been a year since I saw it for the
first time, this film stayed with
me and impacted my perspec-
tive in profound ways. If nothing
else, perhaps writing about it will
awaken some hunger for more
films like this one.
“Hochelaga” is the name of the
Iroquois village that the French
encountered when they first came
to what is now Quebec. The con-
ceit of the film is an archeological
dig that uncovers pieces of the
history of Montreal going back
through time to the original in-
digenous people, to the early Eu-
ropean explorers, and to rebels in
the 1830s. Much more than we
regularly see, the film prioritizes
indigenous perspectives, rather
than omitting them or presenting
them as side notes to a story about
white Europeans. In the story
about early French settlers, we get
a sense of how ill-equipped they
were for life in a territory where
indigenous people had been living
for centuries, and yet we see also
how the French somehow operate
from an unfounded assumption of
superiority. In the rebel story, a
black woman and an indigenous
man support a white household,
yet they are portrayed in a way
that conveys unnoticed power and
multi-level awareness.
o PinionAted
J udge
by
D arleen o rtega
The unearthing of a long-vanished Canadian village brings new
reverence for Native American ancestors and connections across
generations in Francois Girard’s ‘Hochelaga, Land of Souls.’
By the time we come to a final
story of Hochelaga itself, we can
see that it is a thriving village with
a sophisticated leadership struc-
ture. The natives see the French
as crude, smelly, and unsophisti-
cated--and with good reason. Yet
despite all that they encounter, the
French feel qualified to respond
as though they have discovered
a wholly uninhabited place and
to name it as though for the first
time.
The film returns several times
to a post-battle scene from 900
years ago, as a holy man grieving
the carnage prays for wisdom and
prophesies a time when humans
will make sense of the larger sto-
ry. The film accords a reverence to
indigenous ways of naming and
processing reality that is all too
rare. It was the first time I have
ever seen a film evoke a sense
that indigenous people have been
on this content for many centuries
longer than white Europeans, that
the remnants of cultures that were
nearly obliterated still live in our
soil, that we are surrounded by
these original caretakers of the
land.
C ontinueD on p age 14