Watching Cousins hurt my heart. Growing up on a North American reservation, the film drove home how the indigenous experience, the crushing weight of colonialization. The taking away of all that is who you are: your language, your connection to your people, even your memories. The schools. The churches. All in the name of... What? Making us better by making us more like them. But we can never be like them and they h
take away everything that makes us be like us. And what is left is... Lost. We use the word cousin here to speak about those who are of the same people. This movie tells the story of three actual cousins and their struggle, against all odds to stay connected. It is heart hurting. And it is beautiful. Cousins is, above all other things, beautiful.
Review of Cousins
