KONELĪNE: OUR LAND BEAUTIFUL
I don’t know about you, but I rarely think about Northwest British Columbia. Before this movie, I had the misguided belief that there really wasn’t much “up there”. In spite of this, or perhaps because of this, I was completely enthralled by this movie and ended up loving Koneline (ko-NA-leen) wholeheartedly.
When director Nettie Wild and her team set out to film a documentary about the Northwest four years ago, they, similarly, didn’t really understand what story they’d be telling. The most simple story to tell would have been the tired narrative of another “evil” mining company looking to exploit the resources of the North, in conflict with the local population protesting them. The main conflict, though, is not a matter of plot but of internal motivation. Wild’s portrayal of the people in the Northwest is far from one-sided. The film portrays the Tahlatan First Nations, some of them adamantly opposed to the exploitation of resources, some working in the mines, and others who grudgingly accept the mines as necessary. The miners, as well, go beyond their typical portrayal as evil capitalist scum. They are workers, they explain, just looking to feed their families and wanting a career free from the confines of a cubicle. This is not just a serious film, as the local shop owner makes you laugh when she describes her motivation for moving up North: the men.
Wild found the “poetry” in every person. There is one truth that unites all the diverse characters in this movie: they are tied to the vast, incredible land. Every person in this film is motivated and shaped by the natural world around them.
My only critique would be the length of the movie, as it dragged a little near the end. Overall, however, it did not subtract from the experience. I would also not recommend this film for the light of heart: prepare to see some moose guts.
This film is an immersive and visceral experience that pulls you in immediately. As soon as the movie started I was no longer sitting comfortably in soft theatre seats, but instead in the isolated and beautiful North.The incredible feat of this movie is to show a world you never see in the city: a moose being hunted down and gutted in a pickup truck, a team of local snow dogs, or people moving fish up a river. The glue that holds everything together is the breathtaking, all encompassing mountain valley.
This is a distinctly proud Canadian film that makes you wonder what it really means to live in this country. Our neighbours to the North, so geographically close but culturally distant, are still as Canadian as us, perhaps more so. The film challenges our preconceived notions of the North by presenting a way of life that we might view as absurd, and it is no doubt harsh, but we learn to see as artful. And as much as this film highlights our differences, it also reminds us our similarities. We all call Canada home.
Central Paw rates: 4/5 Paws