Zombie film by Mi’kmaq director includes colonialism message

By Sam Laskaris

TORONTO – Zombie films have long adorned movie screens eliciting a variety of reactions from moviegoers.

But there is something different about Blood Quantum, the second feature film from Mi’kmaq filmmaker Jeff Barnaby.

Yes, there is plenty of bloodshed, including creative killings, at times including chainsaws and swords.
But Barnaby, who is from the Quebec-based Listuguj First Nation, also incorporates messages about colonialism into his second feature film.

Perhaps it is for this reason officials from the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) gave Blood Quantum a special spot in its lineup this year.

Blood Quantum had its world premiere this past Thursday at the Ryerson Theatre, as part of the festival’s Midnight Madness screenings. The movie was the first Midnight Madness show at this year’s festival, which began Sept. 5 and continues until Sept. 15 at various theatres throughout Toronto.

The film was also shown three other times, all at the TIFF Bell Lightbox, including a pair of press and industry screenings.

Blood Quantum is one of five Canadian feature movies from Indigenous filmmakers being shown at TIFF this year.

‘Blood quantum’ is a term which refers to the controversial blood measurement system that is used to determine an individual’s Indigenous status. Some governments required individuals to have a certain blood quantum to be recognized as Native Americans as an effort to limit their citizenship.

Blood Quantum is set in the fictional Red Crow Reserve, the same setting for Barnaby’s first feature film, Rhymes for Young Ghouls, which came out in 2013 and debuted at TIFF.

The film starts with a scene where presumably dead fish and a dog in Red Crow are brought back to life – foreshadowing that things are going to get just a tad bit strange.

And they do indeed. When the movie fast-forwards six months, a worldwide plague has occurred and Red Crow is the only place remaining that is immune from flesh-eating zombies.

Anyone bitten by a zombie becomes one as well.

The residents of Red Crow attempt to fortify their community as best as they can to prevent the zombies from entering.

Despite the heavy fortification into Red Crow, its residents are then conflicted whether to allow outsiders in.

Infighting ensues on whether to allow seemingly harmless non-Indigenous people into their community, presumably giving them safety from the apocalyptic outside world.

The main characters in Blood Quantum include Red Crow’s police chief Traylor, played by Michael Greyeyes and his two frequent law-breaking sons, Joseph (Forrest Goodluck) and Lysol (Kiowa Gordon), from a pair of different marriages.

Adding intrigue is that Lysol, the chief’s youngest son, is a teenager, who has a pregnant non-Indigenous girlfriend named Charlie (Olivia Scriven).

Charlie is among those pleading for outsiders, who look as they have escaped the zombie plague that consumed all the others, to be allowed into Red Crow.

Once that does occur, yes, plenty of more blood and guts ensues, including to various Red Crow residents.

As a result, though Blood Quantum is a zombie film, it also enables Barnaby the opportunity to make statements about racism, colonialism and the fact Indigenous communities have feared being wiped out for generations.