For decades, pop culture has sold masculinity through bodies in motion: the fighter, the cowboy, the indian and Hercules, the man who never flinches. But everyday life rarely works that way. Siksikakowan: The Blackfoot Man offers a different view from an Indigenous perspective, shaped by a specific community and their own sense of cultural identity.
That’s what makes this documentary special. Even here, we see one young adult have posters of Bruce Lee and other screen icons plastered around his room. Nearly every culture has absorbed those images. It’s nearly impossible growing up with media that presents idealized heroes as the model for what men should become. However, it’s about what not only him and other men do every day which matters more. The masculinity portrayed here is not about adulation, but about coming of age and finding one’s place.