SLAMDANCE FILM FESTIVAL 2025 REVIEW! In the early goings of Nick Beaulieu’s My Omaha, we see a student filmmaker figuring out how to capture the story he wants to tell. It is constantly fascinating how documentarians seemingly stumble over something profound, and then that becomes the focus of the piece, the beating heart, and this picture has a mighty heart.
Immediately as this, and I think it would have a good title, Tale of Two Omaha’s, begins to leave the shallows in favor of the deep water, showcasing the scars that have and continue to divide the United States since the events of 2016—politically, socially, emotionally, religiously, and psychologically—a son comes to his dying father in the hopes of learning the truth.
But as My Omaha reveals, there is no ‘truth’ to be found. The word exists now in so many variations that have been bent and shaped to fit any and every purpose, so much so that one is forced to look below the surface of what has always been respected and expected. Nick’s journey had me recalling Richard Attenborough’s Cry Freedom, with him playing Donald Woods being re-educated by Stephen Biko, in this case, filled in for by community organizer and activist Leo Louis II, as to what it is to be Black in Omaha, or better still, what it is to be Black in the alleged land of the free and home of the brave.
“A son comes to his dying father in the hopes of learning the truth.”
Like Biko before him, and inspired by the philosophy and the man who was Malcolm X, Leo emphasizes that the only true way to resolve the conflicts that divide the races within his country and community is through communication. Two sides can never come to an understanding when they never venture outside the snow globe in which they live. Thus, Leo takes Nick by the hand and leads him into the reality of what life is like on the other side of white.
If that were the only element of this story, it would be compelling enough to hold your attention, but the story runs deeper. In the parallel narrative, Nick’s Trump-supporting father, Randy, it is learned, is dying from cancer. This adds the most challenging and complex layer in which Nick, a young man who sees himself stuck between two realms and two philosophies, starts to learn where his father’s truth comes from. Still, as with us all, when your number gets called and your time is about up, all that really matters is forgiveness and love. Two things the world could use more now than ever.
My Omaha made me cry, and that means it works. The quality of what Nick Beaulieu has achieved, seemingly by trial and error, is a documentary that shows that life isn’t all black and white. Our eyes are human eyes, and the level to which we choose to educate ourselves determines the way we see the world and the people we share it with. All lives should matter, and enough people have died that change should be inevitable. But My Omaha teaches us that it is the pursuit, the seeking of truth, that must continue. We must look at the change ourselves before seeking to change the world.
My Omaha screened at the 2025 Slamdance Film Festival.
"…this picture has a mighty heart."
