Review: The Canary Effect

A canary in a coal mine is an idiomatic expression which means something which warns of the coming of greater danger or trouble by a deterioration in its health or welfare. Thus we can speak of the canary effect, which is a fitting title for the 2006 documentary, directed by Robin Davey and Yellow Thunder Woman.

The movie deals with the history of Native Americans and features interviews with members of this ethnic minority. By including the indigenous people of North American continent, the documentary is more believable and stripped of the false and one-sided view that the media forced on people when dealing with the topic, especially around Columbus Day. The world genocide is used in the movie and rightly so, as it is immediately backed up by data indicating a 98% decline in number of Native Americans – from around 15 million in 1492 to 250,000 in 1890. The movie documents the tragedy of the Indian people with astonishing meticulousness. The atrocities committed by consecutive American governments are appalling, the infamous Trail of Tears being just the tip of the iceberg. The lack of interest from the general public when it comes to the plight of Native Americans is astoundingly prevalent and it is extensively covered in the documentary. It is shown that there is little to no improvement in the lives of the Indians. The detailed account of the various abuses of Native Americans throughout the centuries combined with stories describing what they have to face nowadays results in a comprehensive study of the often overlooked topic of Indians.

In my opinion, it does justice to the indigenous people of North America. It should definitely be more wide-spread to raise awareness of the serious problems that the Indians had to and still have to face in the present-day American society.