Playing at Victoria Film Festival’s F1RST: A Celebration of Indigenous Film on June 21, 2024. For tickets, please visit this link here.
The story of Wilfred Buck is familiar. Here, we see an intimate portrayal of who he is not only as an indigenous person from Northern (Central) Manitoba but also that of a scholar-bard. Whether that qualifies him as a geek, I’m sure it does!
Just why he’s special is because of what he adds to his lectures. He brings the astronomy to life because of what they represent according to his native roots. For example, the North Star has several names. It’s either known as the Keewatin, which means Going Home Star, or Ekakatchet Atchakos, which in English “It stands Still.” That’s because when anyone photographs the midnight black sky for more than five minutes, the result will consist of curved streaks, and the only star that doesn’t move at all is Polaris.
After watching this film, I’m interested in taking up astronomy again. I was a hobby stargazer once, and that’s because I loved the lore attached to it. Although they came from Greco-Roman studies, I wanted to know more about the constellation of Orion. In Egypt, the locals there believed he was Osiris. But in North America, the natives saw an animal instead, the bison!
What this work by Lisa Jackson does so well is to breathe life to those tales. Although that wasn’t her goal to detail (it was to focus on the life Buck went through), I wanted to see more. Also, I yearned to count the stars as though I’m laying in a vast field in Central Canada. The only light would come from the Milky Way. However, I also vibed on the imagery which reminded me of the art from Down Under. I imagined walking through the Dreamtime.
When this work clocks in at about 90 minutes, which is reasonable, I still thought there were segments which felt dragged out. Although it mostly focussed on what went on in Wilfred’s youth through Colonialism, I had to make notes about the differences in what went on when compared to the mistreatment that existed here in British Columbia. What’s revealed isn’t too different, and I’ve reached the conclusion that maybe its time to consider the achivements the indigenous people have made than to dwell on the past.
What’s important in this work concerns how this individual is open about the problems that remain today. That’s important to mention, so that it’ll one day end. As for being true to the self, that’s just as important too.
As for what lays in the great beyond, this work is not important to consider if a civilization exists in that group of stars that make up Orion’s Belt. That’s for another type of documentary to explore. As for what he believes, I’d need to watch this work again to make sure that pass me by. And with a name like his, I can’t help but want to make a callback to a certain John Hughes movie. In the end, everyone will just want to call on Uncle Buck, and he’ll be there to help.
Wilfred Buck the Documentary
Discover more from Otaku no Culture
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
