Who Were the Ones?
1972 · 7m · Canada
Directed by Michael Kanentakeron Mitchell
Genres: documentary, historical, musical
Tones: contemplative, melancholic, provocative
Illustrated by John Fadden, a song written by Willie Dunn and performed by Bob Charlie recalls how Indigenous peoples welcomed newcomers as brothers and were repaid with treachery and exploitation once European colonists arrived.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
Everyone wants to valorize Indigenous perspectives now, but this 1972 piece actually *stings*—it refuses catharsis, lets the song's restraint do the work instead of reaching for easy outrage. Most contemporary work on this subject would soften it; Mitchell keeps it cold.
A masterclass in how illustration, song, and montage can function as rigorous historical argument without didacticism; Fadden's visual language and Dunn's composition create a formal architecture that situates this firmly in the lineage of activist documentary as high craft.
The decision to let Bob Charlie's voice carry nearly the entire emotional weight—sparse, unfussy arrangement, no orchestral swelling—means every breath becomes a statement, and that restraint does more work than any production design could manage on a budget like this.