Film

Kanehsatake, 270 Years of Resistance

Name: Kanehsatake, 270 Years of Resistance
Genre: Documentary
Released: 1993
Cast: Alanis Obomsawin, Jack Burning, Herbie Barnes, Ethel Blondin, Robert Bourassa

Western

Alanis Obomsawin's documentary captures the 1990 Oka Crisis, when Mohawk nations resisted a golf course development on sacred ancestral land. Shot during the standoff itself, it's urgent and visceral—a front-row seat to Indigenous sovereignty in action. Essential viewing for understanding Canada's relationship with First Nations.

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you want a patient, first-hand account of a standoff told from inside the Mohawk community, where the camera stays close to people who lived it and trusts you to sit with their grievances.

Skip it if you want a tidy, even-handed explainer of the 1990 events, since this makes its case openly from one community's side and assumes you can keep up with the history.

What it asks of you: Nearly two hours at the pace of testimony: unhurried, sometimes circling back, asking you to stay with one voice before the next arrives.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

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Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Kanehsatake, 270 Years of Resistance

The wildcard

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