Dance Me Outside: Native actors in W. P. Kinsella's tale of

The most impressive aspect of Bruce McDonald's Dance Me Outside, in additon to its story, are the performances of its largely native and neophyte young actors. They bring to life W.P. Kinsella's rich tale of life on the rez, an Indian reservation in Northern Ontario where the young people have to deal with typical teenage problems (such as relations with the opposite sex) but also with the prejudices and problems facing natives in modern day Canada. That reality becomes especially poignant when one of the native girls is murdered and the white man suspected of the crime gets off with a light sentence, prompting cries for vengeance by a community that feels betrayed by the "justice" system in Canada.

The other plot in the film is lighter, the situation of Illianna (Lisa LaCroix), the strong - willed sister of the rembunctious Silas...