Every child has that one summer where they grow up. Sometimes it’s because of a journey, sometimes it’s inspired by a special person or people…but every child has it. Innocence is left behind, the world presents its true self, and every step forward brings them one step closer to adulthood.

One doesn’t expect this coming-of-age to be sparked by a crisis…but it goes that way sometimes.

BEANS is the story of a 12-year-old Mohawk girl of the same name – her Mohawk name is difficult for many white folks to pronounce, so she has them call her “Beans” instead. Poised to enroll in a prestigious Montreal prep school, Beans’ summer is turned upside down when the nearby Mohawk reservation becomes the scene of a protest. Unwilling to yield their land for a white community to expand a golf course, the Mohawk block access to key roads and bridges, beginning the Oka Crisis that would last three months.

Beans and her family rush into the fray to stand with their community. The experience will show Beans the intolerance her white neighbours are capable of, and the juvenile mischief her young Mohawk acquaintances are capable of as well.

It doesn’t take much to understand that BEANS is a firsthand account. Some names and details may have been changed along the way, but this story’s value and power come from what it inherently knows. Director Tracey Deer knows the shock of hearing seemingly nice adults spew hate at innocent children. She knows that running a bathtub can conceal the sound of stressful sobs. She even knows the tense rush a teenager gets from saying “fuck” aloud for the first time.

This chapter of Beans’ life would be a beautiful film all on its own, but one cannot deny the power added of setting it all against a moment in modern history many Canadians would just as soon forget (If they haven’t actually already forgotten it). Canada likes to fancy itself a land of good manners and unlocked doors, where so much as an overdue library book is treated as a reason for effusive apologies. The truth, however, is that Canada is quite capable of deep intolerance and has even proved it on many occasions (and continues to).

BEANS looks its audience in the eye and calmly asks “Have you forgotten?”. We can tell in the way it phrases the question, that clearly it hasn’t forgotten…nor should it.

Tracey Deer’s film is a master class in true stakes, empathy, and maturity. It arrives in a time where many children are likewise having what should be happy days interrupted by stone-cold reality. The tragedy of such situations is the way it speeds-up what should otherwise be an endless time of adventure and new experiences for girls and boys around the world.

However, if BEANS is any example, the silver lining will come in the way these girls and boys eventually tell their stories – and the lessons they will leave us with.