Tear Jerker / The Grizzlies

While the film is a sports drama, it doesn't shy away from dealing with heavy, serious issues including suicide, alcoholism, drug abuse, emotional and physical abuse present in the community.

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• When Russ' class is interrupted by the arrival of principal Janace and an RCMP officer, who hands him a paper simply scrawled with "No sun, no moon, no stars" and the viewer realises what this means.
• When the viewer realises that due to his father's abuse, Kyle has been running away and sleeping in an abandoned cargo container every night and sometimes in the day. The film is set in Kugluktuk, which is on the shore of the Arctic Ocean.
• The scene where Kyle sees his father arrested for domestic abuse, tells Russ about his dog's previous owner, and explains why he doesn't fight back against his alcoholic father. The raw hopelessness in his voice really emphasises it.
  Russ: Listen, it's not your fault.
  Kyle: I know it's not me. It's my dad. He's a Residential School survivor. He was, like...abused and stuff. And I just feel bad for him. It's like, I wish I could help him, right, but I don't know what to do.
• The shots of abuse and neglect faced by the students: Kyle being beaten by his father, Miranda's books burned outside her house as punishment, Zach having to dig through the garbage for food as his parents have used the money to buy alcohol.
• When Miranda confronts Russ about Zach, driving home the desperation and need to hunt in order to avoid starvation. The scene is a microcosm of the issues surrounding the community - education, starvation, alcoholism, parental neglect, the inability of outsiders to empathise and understand.
  Miranda: We Inuit love this land because we can see for miles. We notice every little thing. But you? You only see right here. Right in front of your face. All of us have made sacrifices to be here. All of us. You really think Zach doesn't want to play? You've been to his house. Did you not see? His family is starving. He has to hunt. Get a clue.
• The lead up to Zach's suicide and the funeral. It's a heartbreaking twist that is also a reminder of what the film is actually about and why it was made in the first place.
  Russ: Tell me what I can do.
  Zach: Got two priors. It's over. Gonna get sent down to Juvie this time. I told him [his brother] I could take him with me. I thought we could get out. Now I can't even take care of him. I screwed everything up. *sniffling*
• Realising that Zach committed suicide using his lacrosse jersey.
• Russ' Despair Speech, and Miranda's ensuing speech to Russ when he's packing to leave Kugluktuk after Zach's death. It's an expression of that she and her people have suffered infinite sorrow, yet are resilient and survive it.
  Miranda: We've been dealing with this for years, and we're still here! You get knocked down one time and you're going to run away? You came here, told us how we should be. No matter what, keep on trying, keep hoping for better things! This is not about you. You might not believe what you said, but we do.
• The scene right after this where the lacrosse team have gathered in a circle in the empty gymnasium to mourn Zach, and share about their suicidal ideations and the losses they have suffered in their families and community.
  • It's even more heartbreaking when you know this was based on a real scene when, after a cultural arts workshop organised by the director and producers, Inuit youth were gathered in a circle and asked what they hoped to take back to their communities. They began to weep openly and share stories of their own domestic challenges, of their loved ones who had died by suicide, of their own attempts to end it all [1].
  Interview excerpt: "...the moment unnerved her [the director]: Many of the kids at the workshop were re-experiencing trauma, and like Russ Sheppard in the film, she was not equipped to treat what she had stirred up. “I was in way over my head,” she admitted. There were no mental-health professionals on hand."
• A bittersweet example: When The Grizzlies play at the lacrosse nationals in Toronto, there's a shot where the ball is passed to Zach standing on a pristine, icy shore of the Arctic Ocean, where he smiles and passes it to Adam to score a successful goal.