Tuesday, August 27, 2024
'Sugarcane': How a Documentary Film Camera Can Help Heal, Not Exploit
www.indiewire.com: There’s a scene in the documentary “Sugarcane” between co-director Julian Brave NoiseCat and his father Ed Archie NoiseCat that is as emotionally raw as anything you’ll see on screen this year. It’s a conversation about the unspoken and devasting trauma the father experienced as a child, and the lasting impact it had on his own shortcomings as a father. It’s a glimpse into a moment so deeply personal and private it is hard not to be aware of the presence of the camera.
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This article was a really interesting read. Julian’s relationship with his father, his father’s experiences, and their reconciliation alone is intriguing enough without the documentary. I think that what Sugarcane seems to have done as a documentary is what other documentaries should strive to do. I took a Native American history course in high school, and I can remember how the videos we watched felt unconcerned, for lack of a better word. They certainly weren’t uninformative, but at the same time it was apparent that none of the movies really cared about the status quo. Stories like the Noisecats’s are super effective on camera, and they’re the ones that need to be shared. At least, people should acknowledge that documentaries from 20 or 30 years ago on this subject aren’t necessarily relevant anymore. The effect of residential schools is still a relevant problem today, and if conversations like this one aren’t shared, those stories will begin to disappear and the community will suffer.
I truly believe that when done correctly, documentaries are one of the most important forms of media in the world at this point. They show what was happening at a time in a raw way, showing the actual actions to make it more accessible than reading about the event and also making it more current in the same way. We have always known the importance of survivor’s stories, and this form of media just increases the understanding people have for those survivors and the events that affected them. Sugarcane is one of the most effective documentaries I have ever read about. It showcases the real events, but does not do so in a staged way and instead approaches it by showing the legacy of the events through the current, daily lives of the main subjects. This approach makes the entire story more present than other forms of documentary, and therefore viewers can more easily be empathetic to the situation. I believe that accessible history is one of the most important things we can give to people, and this form of storytelling is a great way to achieve that.
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