Night Raiders

Night Raiders is a dystopian science-fiction film that serves as analogy to portray the horrors of residential schools for First Nations throughout Canada. The film was written and directed by Danis Goluet, a young woman of Cree and Metis origins from La Ronge, Saskatchewan. The movie also features numerous First Nation actresses and actors which makes for an authentic result. However, this ambitious film suffers from its extremely slow pace and strange conclusion that asks more questions than it actually answers.

The story revolves around single mother Niska and her young teenage daughter Waseese who are living in a camper in an isolated forest somewhere in the Canadian North. However, the totalitarian government expects every child to be sent to boarding schools starting at age four. That's why the government is using drones to discover children who have not been sent to those schools and their parents who are disobeying the law. One day, Waseese gets injured while hunting in the woods and needs medical help. Niska and her daughter have to get to a nearby city to get help but they soon get tracked down by drones and Niska has to give her daughter up. Instead of returning to the security of the woods or taking the opportunity to make it out of that horrible place with fake identity papers, Niska joins a group of First Nation guerillas who are kidnapping First Nation children from the boarding schools and hopes to rescue her own daughter.

This film convinces on a few levels. First of all, the locations have been chosen with care from the endless wilderness in the north as opposed to the poor, dirty and destroyed ghettos in the south and the cold boarding schools that look like prisons. Up next, the elements honouring First Nation cultures such as colourful clothing or dynamic chants have been incorporated with great care into the movie. Some of the acting performances are also very good and especially Brooklyn Letexier-Hart as resilient teenage daughter stands out as the film's greatest actress.

On the other side, this movie isn't without its flaws. First and foremost, the movie has extremely slow pace despite a rather short running time. The entire movie could have been shown in a sixty-minute episode of a dystopian television series such as Black Mirror. Up next, the movie offers few information regarding the background of the totalitarian regime and its ultimate goals as the dystopian world only seems to serve as an analogy related to the horrors First Nation members had to endure throughout the past centuries. Finally, the movie ends on a supernatural note that doesn't blend in with the rest of the film and comes as an odd twist that will leave most viewers scratching their heads. The ending refers to elements of magic that are present in many First Nation tales but this transition is poorly done in this movie and doesn't lead to a proper conclusion.

At the end of the day, Night Raiders is only interesting for those who deeply care about First Nation cultures, identities and issues. The idea behind the movie is very positive but the final result has too many flaws to make for a truly enjoyable cinematic experience. This film suffers from slow pace, weak plot and unsatisfactory resolution. There are other contemporary films dealing with First Nation and Inuit issues such as Indian Horse or The Grizzlies that are much better than Night Raiders.

"They will come for us, like they always do. We try to warn the others, because we know how far these people will go, and that they will come for them too."

In the not-so-distant future Niska navigates forest and city as she flees with her daughter, Waseese, from the soldiers and drones of a militarized government. When the injured Waseese is taken by soldiers and put in a reeducation camp, Niska seeks the counsel of a friend, a lover, and a band of Cree rebels who compete for her trust. Many among the Cree believe that Niska is the visionary guide, Ogunuheneechigew, who has come to help them return to a promised land and existence. Niska just wants to see Waseese again.

Myth, assimilation, the natural world, the infamous residential schools of North America, modern technology, and even Canada's long-standing fears of their southern neighbor are all deftly woven into an enthralling story by Danis Goulet, who is Cree, in her debut feature. Don't see Night Raiders for mind-blowing dialogue that would make Noam Chomsky faint out of sheer admiration, for the acting prowess of a Natalie Portman or Daniel Day Lewis, or for special effects that would make George Lucas look like a basket weaver. Instead see it for the impressive and comforting independent spirit, creativity, and heart of a gifted storyteller.

Yes, I know this film is a bit lo-fi, yet the acting leads are superb, the story a bit too believable--especially in terms of recently uncovered nightmares of Indian schools, and the malicious tech right on target. Was there a bit too much left from he editing room intact: YES. But some of these actors probably worked their whole lives to get into a wide-distribution release. I appreciated the film on many levels and would hope other viewers would as well.

The feminist and culturally specific Indigenous focal point in writer and director Danis Goulet's feature debut is admirable, but is muddled, dull and falls short in her attempt to intertwine a dystopian apocalyptic sci-fi story within it.

It started off really interesting and engaging as a apocalyptic sci-fi, but then once the cultural aspect became evident, I quickly lost interest and got bored, right up to the last 5 minutes of the ending. The 101 min runtime felt much longer with the slow pacing. The cinematography was excellent, the directing decent, and the performances quite good. It's a 6/10 from me.

Night Raiders starts promising with an intriguing plot but towards the second part of the movie the quality is just tumbling down. It looks like towards the end the writers had a lack of imagination, or were just too lazy to give it a better outcome. So overal I was entertained for a bit more than half of the movie, after that I got bored. The acting is average, some were better than others. Nothing award winning that's for sure. It's too bad because Night Raiders definitely could have been better, the ingredients were there but the execution failed.