Place of the Boss
Utshimassits

The Mushuau Innu village of Davis Inlet on the coast of Northern Labrador has seen the whole difficult history of contact with European civilization compressed into a ruinous thirty year resettlement that destroyed a way of life. A 6000-year nomadic hunter-gatherer culture came to a halt when the Innu were permanently re-located in 1966, resulting in physical dislocation, cultural collapse and widespread despair.

When six Innu children died in a house fire on Valentine's Day, 1992, the national media seized upon Davis Inlet as a stark example of the pain and despair associated with the loss of traditional Native culture. But for the people of the isolated Labrador community the tragedy was an important awakening, a starting point in a process of reflection and change.

Place of the Boss: Utshimassits (ooh-she-mah-seet) candidly follows the community of Davis Inlet as it comes to terms with its recent tragic history by reaching back to a more distant, prouder past while edging forward to an uncertain future.

In a single generation, a culture crumbled. An ancient and complex web of economic, social, and spiritual practice was eroded, and the Mushuau Innu found themselves marooned in a rural slum, adrift in poverty, substance abuse and violence. Elders and their grandchildren no longer spoke a common language; traditional rituals were discouraged and forgotten and families disintegrated into alcoholism.

Chief Katie Rich, part of an influential new generation of young Native leaders, features prominently in Place of the Boss: Utshimassits. Under her leadership, the Mushuau Innu have regained an important degree of control over their lives and broken the cycle of despair. Cinematographer Nigel Markham documents both the powerful testimony of the film's subjects and the vast beauty of the Labrador landscape, and black-and white footage shot by missionary Father Edward O'Brian provides a glimpse into an earlier, happier time.

The film weaves archival footage with views of the breathtaking Labrador landscape and haunting present day images to establish a profound sense of place. First person testimony from elders, band leaders and youth allow the voices of the community to express their own rarely heard point-of-view. The result is a documentary that gets behind the national headlines of substance abuse, suicide and rural slum conditions to profile a people confronting the problems of the present by reviving elements of their previous way of life. Place of the Boss: Utshimassits reveals a community struggling to regain control of its own destiny.

Place of the Boss: Utshimassits was directed by John Walker and produced by Peter d'Entremont, Marilyn A. Belec, Michael Mahoney, and John Walker and written by John Walker and David MacFarlane. The cinematography was by Nigel Markham and he film features music by the immensely popular Montagnais/ Innu duo Kashtin. The film was produced by the National Film Board Documentary East Studio in co-production with John Walker Productions and Triad Film Productions.

For further information check the NFB's Place of the Boss: Utshimassits page.