When I got a copy of this on Blu Ray (which is why I didn't buy it when it was up for Oscars, I didn't own of blu ray player at the time) earlier this year, I made a promise to myself that if I didn't play in on one of the many days in the Fall dedicated to Native American themes and issues, I would definitely play it during the Christmas season. It is set during Christmas.
It happens to be on a subject that I know something about. I don't know how many ordinary Americans or Canadians are aware of how many "Indian Reservations," "reserves" to those of you north of the "Big Medicine Line." cross the International borders of the US and Canada. The Bush administration, for example, jumped all over the Blackfoot community in Montana for supposedly letting some terrorists cross the border in their territory in Alberta....turned out it was just some story that an over waterboarded terrorist suspect in indefinite detention made up so they would stop torturing him (yes, I'm using the "T" word here).
Probably the most well known of these cross border communities is the Akwesasne Reservation (formerly St. Regis Indian Reserve), which is mostly in up state New York, but has some sizable holdings across the border into Quebec--the international border that bifurcates that reservation is basically in a class all by itself. It is still recognized by both the US and Canada as part of a continuous border, but that border gets "reclassified" when it comes to Akwesasne lands. I won't go on...the issue is a complicated one. There is one thing that is for sure, even if citizens of the US and Canada are unaware of these border issues in general...the Mexican drug cartels definitely are not!
I am certainly not trying to be a buzz kill here! But these are real issues that real people deal with at all times of the year. The silly Christmas horror will resume after this--I'm going to need an antidote!!
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