When producer Christine Haebler heard CBC radio host Shelagh Rogers interview author Richard Wagamese about his 2012 novel, Indian Horse, she knew she had to make it into a movie.
She and her producer partner, Trish Dolman, had been looking for a story that would raise awareness of the residential school experience in Canada.
They secured the movie rights, but wanted Wagamese’s involvement and input, and credit the film’s success to him.
Sadly, in March 2017, before the movie premiered, Wagamese died at his home in Kamloops.
His story is of Saul Indian Horse, a northern Ojibway, who is forcibly taken from the land and his family and sent to residential school. As an escape from the rampant discrimination and out-of-control abuse at the school, Saul seeks refuge in the sport of hockey. He is a natural, a truly gifted and exceptional player, and hockey becomes his ticket out.
As Saul advances to the minor leagues, on a path to the NHL, he is exposed to crushing racism that undermines his love of the sport, and the violence and booze begin to corrupt his spirit. Ultimately, he ends up in an alcohol treatment program where he’s forced to deal with his painful past.
Indian Horse is a hard but important movie, a movie all Canadians should see. It is an examination of the permanent effects of abuse and what it means to heal.
The filmmakers found a balance between showing the abuse and not making something too terrifying for viewers to watch. As writer Kathleen Winter says, “Indian Horse is a force for healing in our beautiful, broken world.”
Indian Horse, rated 14A, shows at the Salmar Classic on Saturday, April 28 at 5 and 7:30 p.m.
Next Wednesday, May 2 at 7:30 p.m., it’s the documentary California Typewriter, that features artists, writers and collectors who remain loyal to the typewriter.
It’s a thought-provoking commentary on the changing dynamic between humans and machines.
