Indian Horse

In preparation to cancelling Netflix again, I checked for any other shows/movies I wanted to see, and I discovered the Canadian movie Indian Horse, based on a novel. At first it seems like it's going to be a hockey movie, about an indigenous player becoming a sports hero like Jim Thorpe or Duke Kahanamoku, but it's really a drama about the horrific boarding schools traumatizing Native kids, generation after generation, until the 1990s. (And this didn't just happen in Canada. It happened in the United States and in Australia; white society sought to assimilate indigenous people by destroying their native culture and converting them to Christianity.) Saul's family reflects this divide. His grandmother remembers ancestral lands and traditions, but his parents who went to boarding schools have forgotten old ways. Even though Saul's older brother died due to illness at the school, the parents still want to return to a priest to have him blessed; as if the Christian god did any good to that boy in life.

Saul ends up alone and is also sent to a Catholic boarding school to be indoctrinated. He witnesses other kids suffering the cruelty of the nuns and priests. It's kind of senseless how they punish the kids for such minor things, regarding it as a sin to speak Ojibwe, and repeatedly locking a little girl in cage in the basement, like an animal. A new priest Father Gaston arrives and seems reform-minded and less strict. He acts nice and sets up a hockey rink to let the boys play on a team. He seems supportive to Saul, but he still looks the other way as children continue to be severely traumatized in sadistic ways. Two girls even kill themselves out of despair. Saul uses hockey as an escape from this misery, and his talent helps him leave the boarding school as a teen to join a team called the Moose.

Saul does well with his foster family, but his team faces racist taunts and brutal violence from the white teams they play. Eventually Saul is scouted to join a white team, as a step toward playing on a professional NHL team. The racism is even worse there, also coming from insensitive fans who do mock war chants and throw Indian toys at him. Becoming a sports star is not worth this shit, so he quits and descends into alcoholism. The movie is really about Saul needing to deal with the deep trauma he has suppressed and ignored for years. It's about trying to find peace and family to help you heal.