Our take
Everything about Sugarcane is arresting, whether it’s the epic shots of the sweeping reservation (“Canada is our land,” one native announces), the emotional moments shared by survivors of the abusive residential schools, or the damning discoveries they find in an investigation into the Catholic priests. Every second of it is sure to shock and infuriate. Not everything is tragic though. There are slivers of hope, especially from the independently assembled team leading the investigation. The police are apathetic and the suspects are evasive, but despite the deep trauma, pain, and violence the community of Sugarcane has gone through, they persist.
What it won
Oscars
1 nom
DGA
1 nom
Spirit Awards
1 nom
Sundance
1 win
Nat. Board of Review
1 win
The story
An investigation into abuse and missing children at an Indian residential school in Canada ignites a reckoning on the nearby Sugarcane Reserve.
Elsewhere
"‘Sugarcane’ is something more meaningful than a mere history lesson. It’s a portrait of what remains when injustice occurs."
— Esther Zuckerman
"It’s profoundly evocative, with spoken memories and moments of inability to muster the words gut-punching with equal measure."
— Peyton Robinson
The native community of the Sugarcane Reserve in Canada mount an investigation into the missing children and multiple abuses of a Catholic residential school.
Sometimes it gets so intimate, I feel bad for watching. In some of the most private moments, I want the cameraman to stop filming, pull him away almost, to stop us from intruding.
Be prepared to be infuriated.
The details
Streaming arrival
Who picked it
Renee Cuisia is the lead curator at A Good Movie to Watch. In her spare time, she likes to watch K-dramas and analyze them to death. She's also seen You've Got Mail one too many times but is still convinced it's one of the greatest films out there.
