Wildhood

Peccadillo Pictures moves into new territory with a film centred on the Mi'kmaq people of Nova Scotia.

Bretten Hannam who is both the writer and director of Wildhood is Canadian but, given the character of his film, it is more important to mention that he is one of the indigenous Mi’kmaq people and identifies as being Two-Spirit – that is to say that he is a native person aware of possessing both a male and a female soul and thus proudly non-binary. The tale that he has chosen to tell is a kind of road movie but one that deeply echoes concerns that stem from his sense of his own identity.

The opening scenes of Wildhood show us Lincoln (Phillip Lewitski) growing up with his younger half-brother Travis (Avery Winters-Anthony) and suffering from a violent and aggressive father, Arvin (Joel Thomas Hynes). This man has always told Linc that his Mi’kmaq mother, Sarah, is dead but he discovers that this is untrue. This knowledge becomes the spur that makes him abandon the father who beats him and he sets off with Travis in an effort to trace his mother. He finds no help from a rehab house to which she had been sent but papers kept there nevertheless reveal where she might be found. The quest continues helped by Pasmay (Joshua Odjick) a young man who is encountered by chance on the road, he also being Mi’kmaq and a pow-wow dancer who is Two-Spirit. With help along the way, the three travellers will eventually find a tribal elder (Becky Julian) who knows where Sarah can be found.

The story presented here is not always readily persuasive: certain plot details (one example is the ready discovery of the papers regarding Sarah at the rehab house) are hardly likely and the plot development which finds Linc and Pasmay becoming lovers takes full hold rather too suddenly for us not to feel the writer’s hand behind it. However, it is the case that Linc’s discovery of his sexuality is part and parcel of the film’s main theme which is the need for individuals to find themselves by embracing their true identity. The journey taken by the film’s three central characters offers the freedom of the road to illustrate this and, in asking what this freedom is actually for, it certainly includes recognising one’s sexual identity while underlining cultural identity just as much. The film’s emphasis on the Mi’kmaq people extends to scenes in which we hear their language suitably translated in subtitles and there is a colourful final scene related to their traditions.

The location shooting is an asset (certain scenes of the natural world carry a poetic tone) and Hannam brings a dramatic charge to bear in telling his story with the film’s music score adding to the mood. His judgment is not always ideal, but the piece is very well cast and there is in any case one quality here that stands out and encourages one to overlook any passing weaknesses: Wildhood is a film that gains immensely from the fact that Hannam feels so warmly for all of his principal characters.

MANSEL STIMPSON

Cast: Phillip Lewitski, Joshua Odjick, Avery Winters-Anthony, Michael Greyeyes, Becky Julian, Savonna Spracklin, Desna Michael Thomas, Joel Thomas Hynes, Callum Dunphy, Steve Lund, Bailey Maughan.

Dir Bretten Hannam, Pro Bretten Hannam, Julie Baldassi and Gharrett Patrick Paon, Screenplay Bretten Hannam, Ph Guy Godfree, Pro Des Michael Pierson, Ed Shaun Rykiss, Music Neil Haverty, Costumes Evelyn Murray.

Rebel Road Films/Younger Daughter Films/Filmshow/Téléfilm Canada etc.-Peccadillo Pictures.
108 mins. Canada 2021. US Rel: 24 June 2022. UK Rel: 2 September 2022. Cert. 15.