Friday staff pick: For Angela

Today’s Friday staff pick comes from our brilliant librarian, Katherine Kasirer.

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When I was asked to suggest a staff pick of the week from the vast NFB.ca collection available online, my thoughts turned first to the classics – stuff my kids and I watched over and over which always made us laugh (“quit shaking yer eyes!”; dinosaurs falling from the sky). But that would be too easy.

How about a film buried in the archives that still works? A film that I maybe saw only once but had a big impact? Could I find one that stands the test of time? Then I remembered For Angela, a short dramatisation based on the real experience of a native woman and her young daughter who are verbally assaulted by a group of loutish teens on a city bus. The mother takes her daughter to the high school to call the kids out on their abuse – she forces them to confront the effects of their racist attack on the recipients. We are let in on how it feels to be victimized by ignorance, discrimination and cruelty.

I love bus stories.

I love people standing up for themselves and their peers.

I love mothers setting examples for their daughters.

I love excellent acting – thank you, Tina Keeper.

The strong message delivered by one of our finest actors, Tina Keeper, still works today. Based on a true story, the film ends with a testimonial by Rhonda Gordon and her daughter, the actual victims of the racist verbal attacks. This powerful film is an example of what the NFB does best. Watch it, remember, and learn.

For Angela , Nancy Trites Botkin & Daniel Prouty, provided by the National Film Board of Canada