Beans: Coming-of-Age Tale Inspired by Oka Crisis Tells Compelling Story Despite Some Bumps

By Thom Ernst

Rating: B+

It is no small revelation watching the opening credits of Beans, director Tracey Deer's multi-award-winning feature debut (including a best picture Canadian Screen Award).

It's not the scene that evokes emotion—a simple shot underscored by the voice of a Montreal radio news reporter that transitions from dark screen to the anxious expression of a young girl looking through a car window—but the names blazing across the screen that stir the heart: Kiawentiio, Violah Beauvais, Rainbow Dickerson, D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai.

Read our interview with the director and star of Beans

These are the names of the Indigenous actors of Deer's story. They come on screen like a celebration, an announcement that promises a genuine account told through authentic eyes. And the names appear unaltered, not anglified for easier consumption. The impact of those names on-screen adds credence to a scene of Beans (Kiawentiio) patiently coaching a private school admissions officer on the pronunciation of her Mohawk name.

After several failed attempts to pronounce her name correctly, Beans smiles and concedes, "People call me Beans," she says. And the woman, like someone freed from handcuffs, complies. Such is Beans’ nature, to circumvent discomfort and make things easier—for others.

Beans is the story of a young girl approaching adulthood. She is an attentive sister to Ruby (Violah Beauvais) and an obedient daughter to her mother (Rainbow Dickerson). She is timid, polite, and grateful.

But her perfection, as others interpret her behaviour, comes at the cost of her voice. Beans is unable to defend or speak up unless rigorously prepared beforehand. During the school admissions interview, Beans is asked why she wants to be a doctor or a lawyer. It should be a simple enough question to answer, but because it was not a question Beans' mother prepped her for, Beans grew sullen and silent.

Admission to the school is something Beans wants, but not something she can admit when facing her peers and her father, who see the school as a “white” school that Beans' mother is pushing her towards.

PROUDLY SUPPORTS ORIGINAL-CIN

Director Deer is not bound by the same temperament as Beans, who may or may not be (but probably is) a reflection of the director at a young age. And if telling her story is a burden that needs to be lifted, then Deer does so with charm and humour and a willingness to seize the audience in moments of discomfort.

We are told that actual events inspire the film. It's a claim I'm wary of. “Inspired by” rings of misdirection, a willingness to roughshod an inconceivable story over a sliver of truth. You need only to look at The Conjuring franchise to see how a minuscule of inspired truth can get in the way of reality.

But the actual events inspiring Beans have credible roots. The film takes place at the height of the Oka Crisis, a 78-day stand-off between the Mohawk peoples from Kanesatake, Quebec. For those needing a refresher course, the Oka Crisis was a stand against corporate development from infringing on Mohawk territory, which would include lengthening a golf course into an Indigenous burial ground.

In a scene indicative of the nature of the intrusion, Beans and Ruby collect golf balls off the graves of their ancestors. There are so many lost golf balls in clear sight that one wonders how bad these golfers are.

The Mohawk protest begins as a peaceful stand against oppression. Still, it lights a fuse of hatred and racial divide that draws violent opposition from opposing demonstrators and eventually leads to a stand-off between the police and the military.

Deer is a skilled documentary filmmaker able to incorporate actual news footage into the story without abandoning the film's narrative style. However, there is a staginess to recreations involving crowds of extras shouting obscenities and hurling prop rocks at the passing cars. But Deer contrives a convincing enough excursion into Beans’ reality that these dips in authenticity are easy to shrug off.

It's less easy to shrug off the film's efforts to be inclusive in depictions of good and bad behaviour.

Deer wants to be fair, and so, she reveals extremes on both sides: An outraged Mohawk warrior intimidating white drivers crossing a bridge frightens Beans, and an intense stand-off between two barricades is depicted as both sides losing control.

As well, Deer includes reassuring (actual) footage of white demonstrators supporting the Mohawk's cause. None of these scenes feel misplaced or misrepresented, but their timely arrivals conveniently shift the story away from the provocative and towards something slightly more generic.

The film is unequivocally on the side of the Mohawk warriors, but if there is even a little bit of Beans in Deer, it's revealed in the way the film reaches out to appeal to a broader audience.

As a coming-of-age story, Beans doesn't stray far from traditional narratives. The difference is that what sparks Beans’ transformation is witnessing the rise of her community against tyranny.

Beans seek advice from April, a notorious bully who has been making life hell for Beans and Ruby. It should be of no surprise to anyone that the two become friends, and the once meek and quiet Beans become an outspoken force of righteous rebellion.

Whether or not Deer applauds bad behavior over good as Beans transforms from focused good girl to defiance is not a judgment one can make without revealing their own bias and perceptions of what's acceptable. What is clear is that every bit of evidence is there to support Beans' outrage.

But even as Beans finds her way into her community, she discovers that there are reasons to feel unsafe even in safe places. Even as a newly sprung "bad-ass," her struggle to fit in is tempered by acts of submission to belong.

Beans is an ambitious film that, for the most part, works. It extends its efforts to reach a larger audience, but the story it tells is easy to admire.

Beans. Directed by Tracey Deer. Starring Kiawentiio, Violah Beauvais, Rainbow Dickerson, and D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai. Opens July 23 in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Regina, Victoria, and other major cities.