A Lost Chapter of Resistance Finds Its Voice

Read Time:5 Minute, 13 Second

MOVIE REVIEW
Ni-Naadamaadiz: Red Power Rising
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Genre: Documentary, History, Indigenous
Year Released: 2025, CBC/Documentary Channel release in 2026
Runtime: 1h 30m
Director(s): Shane Belcourt
Where to Watch: shown at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival

RAVING REVIEW: History rarely gives us clean accounts. Some moments are captured in countless reels of film, studied and revisited until they become cultural touchstones. Others slip into silence, either ignored, erased, or deemed too dangerous to remember. NI-NAADAMAADIZ: RED POWER RISING faces that silence head-on, reconstructing a 1974 Indigenous youth-led occupation in Kenora, Ontario, from just eight surviving minutes of archival footage. What could have been another forgotten protest instead becomes a vivid retelling, crafted with purpose by director Shane Belcourt and journalist-producer Tanya Talaga.

At its core, the film doesn’t just document a 90-day standoff. It reclaims a piece of history from the margins, situating it firmly in the ongoing story of Indigenous resistance. The Anishinabeg youth who took part were not only confronting local injustice — they were making a statement on behalf of generations. Led by Louis Cameron, a residential school survivor and founder of the Ojibway Warriors Society, the occupation brought together community members and allies from the American Indian Movement. Their determination carried them beyond Kenora, all the way to Parliament Hill, where the state’s violent response underscored the stakes of speaking out.

Belcourt, himself from the Cree-speaking Michif community of Lac Ste. Anne understands the instability of memory when it comes to Indigenous struggles. Instead of trying to fill in the gaps with dramatizations, he and Talaga weave together voices, manuscripts, and cultural markers that reframe those eight minutes into a full-bodied narrative. By leaning into oral history and testimony, the film honors traditions of storytelling that have preserved Indigenous memory long before film cameras existed.

The partnership between Belcourt and Talaga feels essential to why the documentary resonates. Talaga’s journalistic grounding ensures that every piece of testimony is contextualized within larger systems of erasure and resistance. Belcourt’s visual instincts give the film measure, alternating between reflection and unflinching confrontation. Together, they avoid the trap of turning the occupation into a relic. Instead, it serves as a living, breathing reminder of how far the Land-Back movement extends into the present.

The choice of music is another understated strength. Tom Wilson, a musician from Kahnawà:ke Mohawk Territory, collaborates with his son Thompson Wilson to craft a score that never overwhelms but anchors the film. Their work resonates through scenes of testimony and archival fragments alike, amplifying the sense of dignity that pervades. It reminds the audience that this is not just about anger or resistance — it is about survival, resilience, and asserting one's presence.

One of the most striking aspects is how the film acknowledges what is missing. With only eight minutes of visual history, NI-NAADAMAADIZ: RED POWER RISING forces viewers to confront how much of Indigenous resistance has been erased from collective memory. That absence becomes part of the film’s texture, a reminder that silence itself was weaponized against Indigenous communities. The film’s structure, then, is an act of defiance: to reassemble, reimagine, and refuse to forget.

The documentary also positions the Kenora occupation as part of a continuum rather than an isolated incident. By connecting it to the Native Caravan that reached Ottawa, the filmmakers make clear that these struggles reverberated across provinces and decades. It’s not difficult to see how it extends into contemporary movements — whether at Standing Rock or Wet’suwet’en — where the language of sovereignty, land, and survival remains a pressing concern. This continuity strengthens the film’s relevance, showing it not as a history lesson but as a roadmap for ongoing resistance.

Belcourt’s direction resists embellishment. He doesn’t over-aestheticize the fragments of archival film or attempt to dramatize missing scenes. This restraint makes the documentary’s anger and grief all the more affecting. When survivors and participants speak, the camera gives them space. When silence lingers, it lingers long enough to remind the audience that silence has always been part of this history.

By its end, NI-NAADAMAADIZ: RED POWER RISING achieves something rare. It takes an almost invisible historical moment and restores it, while also questioning why it was previously hidden. The film is both an act of documentation and resistance, carrying forward stories that risk being lost to erasure. In doing so, it becomes more than just another festival entry — it’s a cultural intervention, asking its audience to consider not just what happened in Kenora in 1974, but what it means for today. This isn’t a documentary that will leave audiences with a neat closure. Nor should it. Its power lies in the way it unsettles, reminding us that the work of remembering is never finished. RED POWER RISING is both a title and a call to action — a reminder that history can be buried, but not forever.

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[photo courtesy of SERIAL MAVEN STUDIOS]

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