UNARMED VERSES (Charles Officer,Canada). 86 minutes. Rating: NNNN See cover story.
Charles Officer‘s CBC doc The Skin We’re In covers all the talking points about Black oppression in Canada that Unarmed Verses, a companion piece of sorts, avoids. If The Skin We’re In explains what #BlackLivesMatter is fighting against in Canada, Unarmed Verses simply and affectionately shows that Black lives matter.
The film lingers with thoughtful, engaging children in community housing as they compose songs and poetry and gear up for the opportunity to record their music at Apollo Studios – all before their neighbourhood is razed for yet another Toronto revitalization project.
Officer avoids exploiting these stories and instead empowers the kids to use their voices. Their music doesn’t speak directly to the bulldozers at the gate or the politics stirred up by recent tragedies. Those are anxieties that hover in the air, and the kids may not yet have the words to grasp them.
May 1, 6:30 pm,Isabel Bader May 2,3 pm, Scotiabank 4May 6, 3:15 pm, TIFF 1
See our cover story about the film here.
