It is the year 2043 and the cinematography is as ugly as the oppressive government. Gosh, we just can’t seem to find that happy police state film, huh? It’s like the whole police state mentality is constantly under attack by artists … along with history and reality.
Today’s somber look at tomorrowyear is called Night Raiders, a low-budget Canadian/New Zealand production about what happens when all children are deemed “property of the state.” Cree mother Niska (Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers) and her teen daughter, Waseese (Brooklyn Letexier-Hart), live in a forest camper; they consume fernjuice to stay alive until the drones of doom come to either inform the police of the dangerous rebels within or to sell them Amazon triple prime.
Luckily, Niska has a “friend” in “town” of Amanda Plummer, so agent HoneyBunny can run interference while Niska … lets the feds take her girl away?! I suppose this is ideal –plot-wise- in that it lets Niska find the underground while Waseese explores 21st century Nazi youth. There’s a lot of bleak in this film. It looks like it was shot in a snowless Canadian winter. The scene looks cold and the midday sun barely breaks the horizon. What the cinemat
ography lacks for in beauty perfectly reflects the tone of a film where none of the population is about to go sing to the heavens about what a wonderful world we live in.
Night Raiders feels like a first film, probably because it is. Danis Goulet wrote and directed Night Raiders almost certainly as a film intended to be much larger scale than it really is. The film rails against government policy and talks of camps and police states while also hinting at a post-apocalyptic dystopia. And yet, the scale is –comparatively- very small. In the 21st century, great movements are unlikely to be driven by a dozen people living in the woods.
This is one of those: “Where do you draw the line on alarmism?” films. The viewer, perhaps, could be skeptical about a child-separation policy, however the screenplay both reflects genuine Canadian policy towards indigenous children in the 20th century and, more recently, the US border policies enacted under President Trump. No matter what watch you were on, monstrous things happened. Viewers ought to know that. Even non-viewers ought to know that. I’m giving Night Raiders a mild recommendation stating I’m not such a fan of the film itself as I’m curious to see what Danis Goulet does next.
There once was a girl born Cree
Uprooted from her family
Her indoctrination
Worked against her nation
Cause it ain’t right to enforce bigotry
Not Rated, 101 Minutes
Director: Danis Goulet
Writer: Danis Goulet
Genre: Our screwed future
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Cree
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Fascists
