Older than America's dark secret

Film shot around Fond du Lac Reservation to debut in CloquetA feature film freighted with the ghostly but real stories of hundreds of people and the hopes of healing even more, “Older than America,” will debut on Thursday at the Premier Theater in Cloquet, near where it was filmed on the Fond du Lac Reservation last winter.

The film sets several subplots swirling around a dark secret. Rain, the protagonist, is unable to commit to her police officer boyfriend, Johnny (Adam Beach). Rain’s Auntie Apple (Tantoo Cardinal) raised her because her mother was committed to a mental institution. Rain fears her mother’s madness in herself when she begins to see a figure from her dreams in real life.

At the center of all the plots lies an old Catholic boarding school. Everyone wants something from it or wants to keep something about it hidden: The Catholics want a cover-up, a geologist wants to investigate, a developer wants to build—and something in the school wants to be known.Comment:  A supernatural thriller seems like a good way to tell a story about the boarding school tragedy.

For more on the subject, see The Best Indian Movies.