Posted at 7:00 a.m.
The seventh Quebec art is flirting more and more with genre cinema. However, it is more discreet among Aboriginal artists, except for Micmac director Jeff Barnaby who surprised many with Blood Quantum and Rhymes for Young Ghouls. It is moreover the desire to explore these new cinematographic regions which pushed Samian to take part in the inhumanthe first feature film directed and written by producer Jason Brennan (For you Flora).
I thought it was daring to tackle the Algonquian legend of the Wendigo without naming it. Other filmmakers have tried and it hasn’t always been successful. I was curious to see how an Anishinabe like Jason would approach the subject.
samian
The Wendigo is an evil creature from the spirit world that comes to haunt the living. He attacks Mathieu (Samian), a neurosurgeon who sees his personal and professional life shattered. A weak spirit that he can corrupt as he pleases.
This supernatural figure has a metaphorical significance that is unique to each viewer. It can thus represent the dark sides of the protagonist, his poorly healed wounds, his uprooted community, the greed of human beings, the specter of the colonialist system, etc. A palpable curse that nevertheless remains intangible.
“It’s a bit like all these flaws,” he says. I think we live in a sick society. My character thinks he has everything to be happy, be it love, family, work and material possessions. But inside he is completely empty, troubled. He is looking for something. He is never satisfied with anything. And it catches up with him. »
Confront your demons
This evil that gnaws at him is intimately linked to his past. As a child, Mathieu attended an event that marked him forever. Impossible to forget that night when he saw his father paralyzed by the Wendigo, the creature having literally stolen his soul.
This refers to the traumas of yesteryear. There is a lot of talk about depression and anxiety being passed down from generation to generation. There is something that has existed among the First Nations for so long…
samian
One way to heal, or at least alleviate his suffering, is to tread again on the territory of his childhood and his ancestors to scatter his father’s ashes. A symbolic gesture that will force him to face his fears once and for all.
“Nobody wants to face their demons, admits the star ofHochelaga, land of souls. But at some point, we have to face them… I experienced it eight years ago when I went to bury my father in Abitibi. Even if I had to interpret a character, this phone call will happen once in our life and we have to face its traumas. »
PHOTO PROVIDED BY NISH MEDIA
Of course, this does not happen smoothly. In the case of Mathieu, the reconquest of his identity will force him to survey an ancestral forest which hides a thousand dangers, nevertheless drawing from it the courage necessary to defeat the dark forces. A metamorphosis all in subtlety, like the acting of Samian, whose insurance and charisma take the stripe with each new cinematographic project.
“It’s experience,” he says. I made my first film 10 years ago. With rock paper scissors and Chasse-galerie – The legend, they were characters closer to me. I feel like the closer the character is to you, the more limited you are as an actor. Whereas in the inhuman, he is so far from me that I have the impression that I no longer have any limits. Your playground becomes huge and you have a lot more freedom. »
Multiply the voices
A freedom that we also observe in the movement of recent works such as Bootlegger, Night Raider, Beans and my name is human which bring the Aboriginal voice to the fore by exploring rich and necessary themes in cinema.
“It’s our turn to tell our story, underlines the one who was on the poster for the series One way ticket. Culturally, socially, with everything that has happened, whether we are talking about Kamloops or Joyce Echaquan, I have the impression that we are in an era of change. We can no longer only have the colonial point of view. We have really come to a turning point. I find it super interesting, where the cinema is going. »
Creation is therefore no longer a one-way street. On the contrary, it develops in parallel and even in collaboration, building bridges between people and cultures. “We are going to build this bridge, assures Samian. That’s what I always wanted to do with my art. On film sets, it’s amazing to see as many natives as non-natives getting together to make films. There is really a meeting that is created, an enriching mixture. We all tell the same story and it’s wonderful. »
The Inhuman will be released on April 29.