The Great Departure
2008 · 5m · Canada
Directed by Kevin Papatie
Genres: biography, documentary
Tones: contemplative, tender
An Algonquin father from Kitcisakik who returned to school in 2001 for his children's sake, encouraged by friends in his community, prepares to take the next step and enter CEGEP.
Picked by Zoe
The scouts
Everyone expects the uplift narrative here—Indigenous father, education, redemption arc—but Papatie refuses the easy catharsis; the real subversion is how quietly he lets ambition sit alongside doubt, never resolving the tension.
A formally restrained portrait that inherits the observational precision of direct cinema while honoring the specificity of Kitcisakik itself; the film knows exactly when to hold on a face and when to let silence speak.
The decision to center the father's own hesitation—his preparation as something anxious and interior rather than triumphant—transforms what could be a standard education doc into something that trusts the audience to sit with uncertainty.