Two Films at the Walker

We spent some time at the Walker Art Center on Saturday and took in two films. One film was "Stop the Reroute: Taking a Stand on Sacred Land." This film is about Highway 55 and the light rail track. Maybe you remember reading a little bit about this encampment and the attempts to stop the road construction from taking people's homes and ceremonial Native American grounds. Construction of this reroute was about 10 years ago and my first thought was why make a film about a failure? Obviously the civil disobedience/encampment was not successful since the road went through. After watching the film and observing many people in the audience who were a part of the Minnehaha encampment, I can see that there is more to the story. How everything went down makes a fascinating story and prods me into thinking more about eminent domain, the role of the MN Department of Transportation, tree huggers, and civil disobedience. The second film is called Snow. This was a foreign film so the actual title is Snijeg (Bosian for snow). And in the audience there appeared to be a large number of Bosnians (I'm guessing from their accent). I suppose if I was living in another country, I would welcome seeing a film about the USA and to hear English spoken again. This is a story about a village in Bosnia after the war. With the exception of one old man, only women are left to support themselves which they do by making jam,other canned foods, and rugs and selling them. Times are hard. The main character, Alma, is pictured here on the left. She lives with her mother-in-law and works hard, thinks optimistically, and tries to get by. This was a great film and I enjoyed every minute.