Slash/Back

 

Slash/Back is an alien invasion film written by Nyla Innuksuk (Inuk) and Ryan Cavan, and directed by Nyla Innuksuk (2022). It begins with Maika as a small girl in a small boat. Her father is teaching her to shoot. Six years later, Maika is at home with her father and he goes to ask her for help, but she declines to help and rushes out of the house to see her friends. The friends, a group of Inuit teenaged girls, are hanging around town and they see Maika’s dad standing outside of a store selling meat. Maika is embarrassed by her dad. The girls decide to take his boat for a joyride.

They dock in an isolated area. One of the girls tells a story:

Uki: You know the Kattuk boy that went missing last spring?

Leena: Yeah.

Uki: Well, Brenda was talking to Billy Mike, and Billy Mike was talking to a fisherman from Iqaluit, and he said that he saw the boy playing by the water. And then, like, a fog rolls in. And out comes a grey head, with long black hair. And you know what happens next?

Leena: What?

Uki: He snatches the boy and drags him into the water.

Leena: Qalupalik.

Maika: Get out of here with that silly Inuk shit

While on the land, they encounter a strange bear which they shoot. They return to the village. As all of the adults in the village prepare to go to a dance, the girls secretly plan to go to a house party. While at the house party, Maika expresses disdain for Inuit visual culture. Meanwhile, one of the girls returns to the area where they shot the bear and learns that the strange bear was not really a bear, it was an alien in disguise and there are other aliens which kill animals and then wear their skins in order to disguise their alien nature. She rushes back to the village to tell the other girls but they think she is making up silly stories, as she is known for telling Inuit stories. But then an alien attacks the party. The girls outfit themselves with modern and traditional hunting weapons. “Nobody fucks with the girls from Pang,” they state, as they bring out a felt marker pen to adorn themselves with traditional face markings. The girls have a series of skirmishes with the aliens in various locations. They follow one of the aliens to Maika’s house where her dad is attacked by an alien in the kitchen. Maika has a quick flashback moment from six years ago where her father showed her a blade, and told her that it was her great grandfather’s blade. Her great grandfather was the greatest hunter in Pang, and someday the blade would be hers. As the father is pinned down by the alien, Maika uses her great grandfather’s blade to attack the alien and saves her father. The girls successfully fight aliens to the point that aliens leave earth. One month later Maika and her father are running a traditional food stand together and are very happy.

I enjoyed every minute of this movie. The aspect of it that I appreciate the most is its representation of Indigenous girlhood. According to the Truth and Reconciliation Final Report, residential schools imposed colonial gender roles onto Indigenous people, and these gender roles negatively impacted the role that women traditionally played in Indigenous families and communities (Truth and Reconciliation Commission, 2015, 147). My grandmother did not go to residential school. Her childhood was on the land. She got married young. She was a full contributor to her family through hunting and fishing. She was not overly constricted by Christian gender roles. When I saw this movie which features female hunters who were capable and determined, I felt proud of the role of women in my family and our history. The idea that women are capable and fierce is one of the gifts that my ancestors have given me.

I was particularly struck by the moment when Maika’s dad was trapped, unable to help himself, and Maika took her grandfather’s hunting weapon and used it to save her dad. He taught her how to hunt, and she used that knowledge to save him. It was a transformative moment of connection. Earlier in the movie she had expressed shame and embarrassment about her culture. She wished to distance herself from it. Nonetheless, it was there when she needed it. She exercised it as a way to save herself, her family, and her community. She contributed to the world and demonstrated leadership through culture. And this transformed her, bringing her closer to her father. Early in the movie, when her father was selling meat in front of the store, she was embarrassed by him. But later in the movie, when they have a food stand together in front of the store, she is proud and happy.

Sometimes trying to hide from one’s identity can seem like a logical choice. Here’s the mental shortcut that her character may have taken. “My family is struggling financially. Perhaps the cause of our struggles is our Indigenous identity. Perhaps if I distance myself from being Indigenous, my life will get easier.” But then, she is put into a position where her identity, and specifically the cultural knowledge her dad has taught her, is a resource. This moves her from a place of shame to pride. This arc is not unique to Slash/Back. Literary scholar Mandy Suhr Sytsma says Indigenous young adult texts:

do tend to be strongly focalized through individual young Native protagonists who mature as they move from rebellion against, to reconciliation with their Indigenous communities, these protagonists experience an increase rather than a decrease of personal agency as a result of that reconciliation. Furthermore, their rebellion against colonial ideologies do not diminish but instead intensifies as the narratives draw to a close. (2019, p.xxvii)

Within Slash/Back, the alien invasion is the catalyst for this maturing. It provides an opportunity for the girls to exercise leadership and responsibility, and in doing so, facilitates a sense of accomplishment. And it also provides the group with an experience where they are able to contribute to the well-being of their community through their hunting knowledge, and as such, transforms their sense of belonging within the community. Maika’s transformation from shame to pride is a reminder to be kind, because  you never know what kind of trials someone has gone through in order to arrive at a place where they claim their Indigenous identity with pride.