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Reviews
Hank Williams First Nation (2005)
An elderly First Nations man and his teenage nephew travel to see Hank Williams's grave-site
I loved this film! One of the most satisfying films to watch I've come across. A beautiful blend of clean, real humour and heartfelt sorrow.
Very rarely do you come across characters that hold your attention as rigidly as the ones portrayed in the film. The relaxed and slow dialogue has a strange way of pulling you further and further into the story. Even the scenes that Cree is being spoken without subtitles, are interesting and hold your full attention.
I found this film to be similar in many ways to "Smoke Signals" directed by Chris Eyre (1998). The road trip, the journey's end in "Hank Williams" when they reach Hank Williams's grave-site and in "Smoke Signals" when Thomas picks up his father's ashes, the two friends, the awkward relationships, even the "rez radio" humour is similar.
That's not to say that the two movies run completely parallel with each other. "Hank Williams First Nation" holds its own lessons and charm.
Laughter was a huge part of this movie, though much of the humour is quite dry and takes a second for it to sink in. I was laughing almost the whole way through and when I wasn't, I was almost in tears.
The point I'm struggling to make is that this is a wonderful movie with many strong lessons to teach. I recommending grabbing some popcorn and a friend, sitting down and enjoying this flick.