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Clearcut (film)
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Wikipedia article
'Clearcut' is a 1991 Canadian horror-thriller film directed by Ryszard Bugajski and starring Graham Greene, Floyd Red Crow Westerman, Ron Lea, and Michael Hogan. It follows a white lawyer in an unnamed Canadian province who finds his values shaken when he meets an angry Indigenous activist who insists on kidnapping the head of a logging company clearcutting on native land.
Filmed in Thunder Bay, Ontario, and based on the novel 'A Dream Like Mine' (1987) written by M. T. Kelly, it covers complex subject matter such as the land rights of indigenous peoples in Canada, pacifism, colonialism, and environmentalism. Greene, known for his prolific work, including the critically acclaimed Dances with Wolves, is quoted as saying this is his favorite movie in which he has acted.
Through making 'Clearcut,' Bugajski stated that he set out to portray the issues that he saw existing with pacifism. By forcing the viewer to consider the arguments of the characters alongside their actions he hoped to show the viewer the complexity of these issues where good and evil is not so easily divided.
Plot
Arthur (Greene) rises up into the world from beneath the water, in a rural, forested area in Canada. A seaplane arrives, carrying a passenger to a First Nations reserve, where activists are engaged in a loud, chaotic conflict, attempting to block clearcutting on Indian land. The white man from the seaplane is a lawyer, Peter Maguire (Lea), who is representing the band whose land is designated for deforestation. Peter attempts to appeal the court decision which ruled in favor of the logging company, but to no avail.
An elder member of the Nation, Wilf (Westerman) introduces the attorney to Arthur, who the attorney believes is a militant Indigenous activist. Arthur proceeds to kidnap the logging company's plant manager, Bud (Hogan) and the four take off through the woods where Arthur claims he will "instruct" Peter and Bud in "listening to Mother Earth".
As they travel deeper into the wilderness, Arthur says he will show them the damage caused to the land. Arthur's behaviour grows increasingly erratic and violent. Wilf's warnings and insinuations that Arthur may actually be Wisakedjak, an Indigenous trickster spirit (whom Wilf also refers to as "the Deceiver") begin to make more sense. Peter is faced with difficult decisions that test his loyalties and sense of reality. At the end Arthur, or whatever he is, returns to the water.
Cast
Release
'Clearcut' premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on 10 September 1991 and continued to screen in Toronto in the fall of that year. The film opened theatrically in Vancouver on 6 December 1991, and in Calgary on 11 December 1991. The film premiered in the United States in New York City on 21 August 1992, and in Los Angeles on 30 October 1992. The 'Longview News-Journal' likened the film to a "mystic re-thinking of Sam Peckinpah's 'Straw Dogs'."
Critical response
Elizabeth Aird, writing for the 'Vancouver Sun', praised the film as a "compelling, well-written movie" and a "nightmare odyssey." The 'Calgary Herald's Fred Haeseker commented on the film's dark and violent content, summarizing: "'Clearcut' shares a rare, impressive intensity."Michael Wilmington of the 'Los Angeles Times' praised Graham Greene's performance as the most powerful element of the film.
Home media
'Clearcut' was given a Region 2 DVD release in the United Kingdom in 2007. The film was released on Blu-ray in North America in December 2021 as part of the 'All the Haunts Be Ours: A Compendium of Folk Horror' set by Severin Films.Legacy
While the film never saw mainstream success in North America, it has developed a cult following in Germany. One possible reason that 'Clearcut' failed to make a lasting impact was its proximity to the Oka Crisis. A widely covered land dispute between First Nations and the town of Oka, Quebec that resulted in violent clashes between Indigenous protesters and Quebec police. 'Clearcut's somewhat ambiguous and brutal portrayal of land claim disputes, along with its extreme violence targeted towards police and business owners could have contributed to its lack of success.
To this day, 'Clearcut' remains an important part of the discussion surrounding the portrayal of indigenous peoples in contemporary film. 'Hollywood's Indian: The Portrayal of the Native American in Film' (2003) labels 'Clearcut' a sympathetic portrayal of modern indigenous peoples, in which "native actors get to act out their colonially-induced angst". 'The Canadian Horror Film: Terror of the Soul' (2015) comments on the character of Arthur being portrayed as a spiritual being, and how he is a symbolic representation of the response to colonial attitudes of racism and inequity.
References
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