I try to limit my time spent watching "this toilet Earth" documentaries. You know, the films that show just how messed up this planet is and more specifically, humans are. But sometimes it's important to be informed and face the music.
So when seeing that Netflix started streaming the award-winning documentary We Were Children, I decided to hold on for the ride. And man, what an insane, infuriating ride it is.
Directed by Tim Wolochatiuk, We Were Children is a documentary about Canada's residential schools.
The documentary is very well done, intermixing the stories of two survivors. You know things are bad when they're survivors and not graduates. The interviews are mixed in with dramatic re-creations for a gut-wrenching ride of the Canadian-government-mandated, Christian-church-operated child torture scheme.
Even writing this review, I'm incredibly angry/sad. I mean, reservations are a horrible idea, but to create a government and church school system where the mission statement is "To kill the Indian in the child" I mean seriously, what the heck?
And it's not like this is ancient history. The last school closed down in 1996. Nineteen ninety-six! To put it in perspective: Kurt Cobain did not live to see this institution killed.
Perhaps most shocking was the lack of an incredibly violent revolt after 130 years of children being tortured physically, mentally and sexually.
As for the quality of the movie - it's quite good, with two fantastic, compelling stories that give one a glimpse into why we are paying untold billions of taxpayer dollars every year dealing with the health, social, and legal issues that have been created from this most heinous social experiment.
We Were Children is currently streaming on Netflix.
