Daniel Frost, a two-spirit first nation Canadian raised in the UK reviews Wildhood, directed by Bretten Hannam.
Linc (Phillip Lewitski) and his brother live in an East Coast trailer park with their alcoholic and violent father. After a brutal fight with his father, Linc is determined to find a new life with his younger brother. As he searches for the key to his father’s truck, he finds a box of letters. They are Birthday cards from his Mi’kmaw Mother, whom his father had said was dead.
Linc sets out with his brother to find the Mother he barely remembers. With no real idea of where they are going, the two begin a journey of discovery and hope.
After meeting Pasmay (Joshua Odjick), a handsome Mi’kmaw Pow Wow dancer, Linc and his brother join him on a journey across Mi’kma’ki, the lands of the Mi’kmaw. Pasmay, fluent in Mi’kmaw, is soon teaching the brothers the words and ceremonies of the Mi’kmaw.
The traditional lands of the Mi’kmaw (Nova Scotia) are the backdrop to the unfolding love story between Linc and Pasmay as they share each other’s lives and pasts. Bretten Hannam slowly builds up the tension between Linc and Pasmay, and the film’s pace reflects that. We look into a world that moulds the two young men and those around them.
This movie is both a road movie and a coming-of-age movie with two main characters who happen to be two-spirit. Quite frankly, it is a relief to watch a film without homophobic attacks and experience Linc and Pasmay gently falling in love at their own pace.
As a two-spirit first nation Metis/Cree living in the UK, I can relate to Linc’s need to find an ancestral identity lost through circumstances beyond our control. As a 60’s Scoop child adopted by British parents, my journey to my ancestral lands in Northern Canada was both easy and challenging. Difficult, too, in that I had no connection to the land and people as I would have had I stayed in Canada. My acceptance by the people in the place of my birth was much like Linc’s experience with relatives – calling me from passing cars, “Hey, Cuzzin!”
Ultimately Link finds a lost identity and love in the land of his ancestors and a future he thought he would never have. So many of us are securing our futures through knowing our heritage. From my own experience, I know this to be true.
Wildhood is available to rent at: https://www.peccadillopod.com/film/wildhood/
