Filmed in cinéma vérité style, this feature-length doc follows a group of incarcerated men with troubled pasts as they undergo treatment based on Indigenous philosophy at the Waseskun Healing Center. Director Steve Patry spent a full year with these men, gaining their trust and confidence. The result is a remarkable and gripping film about learning to overcome suffering and finding balance.
Filmed in cinéma vérité style, this feature-length doc follows a group of incarcerated men with troubled pasts as they undergo treatment based on Indigenous philosophy at the Waseskun Healing Center. Director Steve Patry spent a full year with these men, gaining their trust and confidence. The result is a remarkable and gripping film about learning to overcome suffering and finding balance.
Warnings: M (discussions of violence, sexual abuse, some foul language ‘prick’). Ideal for classroom discussions, research and essays about intergenerational trauma, criminal justice, and Indigenous restorative justice. Consider the narratives of childhood experiences shared in the film and discuss how childhood trauma can shape the fate of an adult if nurturing, healing and support are not in place. Research the contexts that influence the overrepresentation of Indigenous people in the criminal justice system. What is restorative justice and how is it being used within the legal system today? Can preventative social structures supported by government and community initiatives help reshape the criminal justice system? How can reconnecting with original cultural ways of being help in healing those who suffer from trauma and intergenerational trauma?
Waseskun, Steve Patry, provided by the National Film Board of Canada