Guest Blog post: from Hannah Stephenson, the Storialist

A response from Hannah Stephenson

After watching “Two Indians Talking”, what stayed with me most was the film’s negotiation of identity. The film hinges on the splits inherent in every identity: desires of the self versus needs of the family, individual versus community, private thoughts versus public actions, present reality versus dreams and goals. At the opening of the film, Adam is struggling to define himself by differentiating himself from his community, culture, and family. We witness Adam and Nathan waiting for the Cree in order to move forward; they envision a crowd of Cree joining them to set up the roadblock. Eventually, Adam moves toward accepting the disparate pieces of himself, and takes responsibility for his own strength.