In writer-director Princess Daazhraii Johnson’s short film, Shaaghan Neekwaii: Two Old Women, we are transported to the 1400s in Gwich’in territory and follow the story of Sa’ (Margaret Henry John) and Ch’idzigyaak (Brenda Kay Newman). Their starving tribe leaves them behind in an act of desperation during a brutally harsh winter. The two have been abandoned essentially because they are old, weak, and considered a liability to the tribe’s survival. Now they are left alone to fend for themselves in the frozen wilderness.
“Their starving tribe leaves them behind in an act of desperation…”
As the women crawl in the snow, they help each other. A delirious Ch’idzigyaak wakes up from a dream about a wolf on the attack. She finds that Sa’ has caught a rabbit in her trap. They eat the rabbit and use melted snow for water, saving what little they have by sipping broth and making every meal last as long as possible. Tired and weak, they stay in a small tent, talking about simple things like their age and their bodies, while thinking about getting better.
Shaaghan Neekwaii: Two Old Women is short and sweet. Beautifully shot, the film’s irony is on full display as this gorgeous landscape serves as the final resting place for our heroines. Margaret Henry John and Brenda Kay Newman give fabulous, understated performances as Sa’ and Ch’idzigyaak. I think the temptation with a story like this is to turn it into a bleak tale of injustice. Still, filmmaker Princess Daazhraii Johnson instead honors the two matriarchs. She turns it into a story about friendship and legacy. It is an uplifting tale with an underlying gut punch in the end.
"…an uplifting tale with an underlying gut punch in the end."
