When All the Leaves Are Gone
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As the only First Nations student in an all-white 1940s school, eight-year old Wato is keenly aware of the hostility towards her. She deeply misses the loving environment of the reserve she once called home, and her isolation is sharpened by her father's serious illness. When Wato's teacher reads from a history book describing First Nations peoples as ignorant and cruel, it aggravates her classmates' prejudice. Shy and vulnerable, Wato becomes the target of their bullying and abuse. Alone in her suffering, she finds solace and strength in the protective world of her magical dreams.
Inspired by personal experiences of writer and director Alanis Obomsawin, When All the Leaves are Gone combines autobiography, fiction and fable to create a deeply moving story about the power of dreams.
Citation
Main credits
Obomsawin, Alanis (film director)
Obomsawin, Alanis (screenwriter)
Obomsawin, Alanis (film producer)
Dumas, Rosalie (actor)
Other credits
Editor, Alison Burns; camera, Philippe Amiguet; original music, Luc-Dominique Tremblay, Normand Guilbeault.
Distributor subjects
No distributor subjects provided.Keywords
WEBVTT
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[music]
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[music]
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[music]
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[music]
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In Oden, Ark, I have special friends.
My old Aunt Helen
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and my mother’s cousin, (inaudible),
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and they love me.
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But we moved away to the city.
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[sil.]
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Here, I feel alone and I miss my home.
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There is a war on right
now and sometimes I see
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soldiers in the street.
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I love to see the horses and
the man bringing the bread.
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It’s so different from Oden, Ark, for aunt
to see, (inaudible) baked for herself,
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for us, and the people in the village.
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Sometimes when the iceman
comes, I run and jump
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on the step and grab some ice chips.
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There are two pulp and paper mills
here and it stinks all the time.
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People say it’s because of
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the way I got (inaudible) mill, but at
least they have a lot of jobs there.
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[music]
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My mamma goes to church many times
a week and she takes me with her.
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Right now I have inner
affection for St. Joseph.
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Aunt Daisy says mamma is
more catholic than the pope.
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And you know what?
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One day I saw mamma come out as
a confessional and she fainted.
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When papa got tuberculosis
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of the bones, the doctor says
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I should never be in the
same room with him because
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I may get it, too.
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In the fall of this year, mamma said, \"Look
out the window at the tree in the backyard,
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when all the leaves had gone,
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if your father is still here, it means
you’ll have him for another year.\"
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[music]
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[sil.]
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At school, I’m the only Indian, and
a lot of the children hate me.
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[music]
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Take your book, \"The history of Canada.\"
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Open it to page 13.
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At the time of its discovery,
Canada was inhabited
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by two principal races of
savages, the Algonquins
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and the Huron-Iroquois. The Algonquian
race included the Algonquians
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and others such as,
mountaineer, the Ottawa,
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the Abenakis, and the Micmacs.
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The savages had copper colored skin, for
this reason they were called redskins.
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They dressed in animal
skins and wore moccasins
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or their skin shoes on their feet.
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The savages like to wage war. Their weapons
were the javelin, the bow and arrow,
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tomahawks, knives, and battle axes.
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They were cruel.
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They scalp their prisoners or took them
back to their villages to torture them.
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[sil.]
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The savages were ignorant and pageants.
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[music]
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[non-English narration]
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I’ll teach you good manners.
You, dirty savage.
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Whoa… whoa… whoa… Just what do
you think you’re doing, girls.
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You go on home now. Says who,
you’re not my mother. Pardon?
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Yeah, that’s right. Do you want
me to tell who your mothers are.
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I know where your home is, (6:46)just
on the rock. Not even true. Pardon? Oh!
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I will tell both of your mothers.
Go on now. Get out of here.
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Oh, little angel.
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Poor little baby, it’s
gonna be all right now.
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Sit down here. That’s a good girl.
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There, we’ll take a look. Oh!
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Is it painful?
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Let’s have a look. Oh.
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Oh, your hands.
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I’m gonna give you a hand. Come.
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Come on, take you bag.
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I’m so sorry. Are you all right?
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Good girl. Now if I leave you
here, are you gonna be okay?
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[music]
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Papa says that cruelest torture is that
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our country was stolen and
our languages were silenced.
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He says some day
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our people will have a voice again.
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[music]
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No one can take away what is in our hearts,
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our spirit, and our dreams.
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[music]
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You, dirty savage. I’ll
teach you good manners.
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You, dirty savage. (inaudible).
You, dirty savage.
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St. Joseph, it’s me, Wato.
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[music]
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[sil.]
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[music]
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Papa, the sun is rising
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I am dancing. Can you see me?
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[music]