After an animated introduction, the film follows a man walking along a creek bed surveying the surrounding foliage. He goes about touching and pulling the leaves that line the water’s edge and we follow him deeper into the forest. The camera finally stops with our subject embracing a tree and staring up the trunk to which the camera pans up as to follow his stare. He begins to chop away at this tree, but while doing to he smells the hacked debris. Not only does this hint that our subject knows exactly what he is doing, but that here lies a deeper connection with this aspect of nature.
We are then taken back to the location where the rest of the fell tree is broken down even more into its final product. As our subject enters what seems to be a toolshed and woodworking shop, we see a sign that takes up the upper wall behind our subject that reads: “Micmac Indian Handcraft Assoc”. This sign, while not too well lit and protruding into the foreground still captures our attention as the lighter woodgrain offsets the sign from the wall and the rest of the shadows on that wall.
We are taken through what my former filmmaking teacher Tom Gilroy would call a process film, where each step through achieving a goal is delineated. While there may not be an apparent conflict to created the final work that our subject is working to create, we are given a story and our interest about his past, present, future, influences, and surroundings spikes up to wonder things such as:
How long has the custom of handcrafting been in the Micmac tribe? Is this a source of income trough trade of their goods? What would be the outcome if these baskets and other handcrafts are not sold. Will there be an apprentice to learn from our subject? What are the current circumstances that have caused our subject to seek to make this basket?