Saw a couple documentaries on youtube…
Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance (1993)
8/10
Good documentary on the Oka Crisis that occurred 1990 in Quebec, Canada. Club de golf d'Oka, a golf course was going to add nine holes to the existing golf course, and luxury condos, further eliminating disputed lands of a Mohawk tribe community. Including background history, this is the story of their successful resistance. The lands awarded to the city of Oka included lands Mohawk cattle grazed and a Mohawk cemetery, but it's unclear if the new development intended to eliminate the cemetery.
The film won 18 Canadian and international awards, including the Distinguished Documentary Achievement Award from the International Documentary Association and the CITY TV Award for Best Canadian Feature Film from the Toronto Festival of Festivals.
There's an excellently created history of the lands near the 26 minute mark of the film. And I'd highlight from 26:30 to 42:50, where there's some expert doc film making in directing and editing regarding the background shots, sounds, transitions, and story telling.
Critiquing the film, I'd very humbly suggest the 2 hour runtime was unnecessary; as parts of the film, though chronological and oft vivid, were sometimes redundant in the story. I think there's a bit of viewer fatigue here, and a 90 minute film would have been more impactful.
Also, I was left a little unclear in certain specifics. Why was a 1986 the Mohawk claim to the federal Office of Native Claims, "rejected on the basis that it failed to meet key legal criteria"? Was it known if the developers were going to eliminated the cemetery? The film was released January 1993, but the ending of the film makes no mention that the developer's plans for expansion were cancelled. According to thecanadianencyclopedia.ca, during the crisis the Federal Government agreed to purchase the land from the developers for 5.3 million; and that "After the crisis had ended, the government purchased a number of additional plots of land for Kanesatake. However, these Crown lands have not yet been transferred to the Kanesatake Mohawk."
The War of 1812 (2011)
9/10
Excellent and entertaining documentary of the background and conduct of the War of 1812. It includes plenty of historical experts explaining the perspectives of the four main actors: United States, The Canadas, British Empire and Indian tribes; including war strategy, human impact and historical significance.
I watched the 2hr 33min version on youtube, where the creator edited out the commercials. PBS.org has the doc available for free viewing with a runtime of 1hr 53 mins, available in HD (
https://www.pbs.org/video/the-war-of...-full-program/). I'm not sure there's 40 mins of repetition in the youtube version; there's certainly recap at the TV break transitions, so maybe the PBS is truly a complete version.