A coming-of-age drama set against true events that roiled Quebec in 1990, Beans is a story of awakening and identity for its title character.
She's a smart and high-spirited resident of the Mohawk reserve Kahnawà:ke, and her single-syllable nickname comes in especially handy in the opening scene: The principal of the private high school she wants to attend stumbles repeatedly, and unapologetically, over the girl's given name, Tekahentahkhwa.
But more extreme indignities await Beans and her family as the Oka Crisis, a land dispute between Mohawk protesters and Canadian law enforcement, escalates.
The combination of actual news footage and fictional events is not always seamless in Beans, the first narrative feature to focus on the Oka.
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