Share
Clip description
Native women grab the hat of Father Laforgue (Lothaire Bluteau) and play with it, enabling a diminutive shaman named Mestigoit (Yvan Labelle) to sneak up and confront him.
Curator’s notes
One of the film’s most memorable scenes displays the mutual distrust between the native Americans and the Europeans. It shows Father Laforgue under pressure on two fronts. The women tease the humourless Jesuit lightheartedly, while the shaman from the Montagnais tribe arrives and is aggressively hostile.
The context is that the Algonquin, some of whom are distrustful of Father Laforgue, have been arguing over whether or not they should cooperate with him, and have landed on Montagnais territory to seek advice from their shaman. The shaman’s attitude does not bode well for the success of the mission.
