Beans is a 2020 drama film about a girl named Tekahentahkwa (Kiawentiio), nicknamed "Beans," living in a Mohawk reserve and experiencing the 1990 Oka Crisis. The film is directed by Mohawk-Canadian filmmaker Tracey Deer. It debuted in the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival.
After seeing her cousin on television, protesting the building of a golf course, the family's two young girls advocates for the family going to join in on the protests. This innocuous road trip drags Tekahentahkwa, her sister Ruby, and her mother Lily into a brutal police raid, and drags their parents deeper into a protest movement gradually descending into violence. All the while, Tekahentahkwa finds herself falling in with April, a young delinquent whose method of "toughening her up" is something Tekahentahkwa is entirely unfamiliar with.
Tropes in Beans include:
- Action Survivor: Tekahentahkwa and Lily may not personally participate in the protest, but they both show a knack for survival when things get violent. Most notably, they show extreme speed and deftness retreating from the police raid on their forest encampment.
- Attempted Rape: April's brother tries to force Tekahentahkwa to give him a blowjob, and clearly isn't taking "no" for an answer. Fortunately, she fights him off.
- Bait the Dog: April is absolutely disgusted when Tekahentahkwa reveals that April's brother tried to rape her... only to turn around and tell her that if she tells anyone, she'll kill her. That said, it's made clear that this is an impulsive response and April does get better.
- Book Ends: In the opening scene, Tekahentahkwa opens by telling the person they're meeting with her name, then her nickname of "Beans." The opening statement of her name is reprised at the end, with Tekahentahkwa standing before the whole classroom, clearly a changed person.
- Break the Cutie:
- Poor Tekahentahkwa is forced through an absolutely horrific experience, between being forced to watch the violence on display at the protests, getting "toughened up" by April, nearly being the victim of stoning by white bigots, and being kissed by an older woman. The end result is that she goes from a bright young girl aimed to go to a nice high school to a perpetually angry child whose sentiments grow much harsher and more desperate. This gets even worse when she's nearly orally raped by April's brother, which reduces her to tears.
- Ruby is forced to endure many of the same brushes with racism that Tekahentahkwa does, her innocent demeanor being ground down by increasing trauma to the point of screaming I hate you! at her own sister when it seems that their mother might die.
- Character Development:
- Tekahentahkwa herself descends into a more violent, angry person— and though she rises out of it, it's clear the film's horrors have traumatized her and made her weary, but also more solidified in her stances— displayed by her refusal to say her nickname.
- Tekahentahkwa's dad learns to recognize that his daughter's made a choice.
- April finds a home away from her horrible friends and brother, and goes from a closed-off delinquent to genuinely giving Tekahentahkwa a kind hug.
- Chekhov's Skill: Tekahentahkwa learning basic combat pragmatism from April helps her fight off April's brother when he tries to rape her.
- Children Are Innocent: While Tekahentahkwa may not be the most innocent child, her younger sister Ruby is perpetually innocent, bewildered to anything especially dark. This innocence gradually spirals into awful trauma. This makes it even worse when she blames Tekahentahkwa for Lily nearly giving birth, even screaming that she hates her.
- Combat Pragmatist: April doesn't hold back from using dirty tricks in a fight, whether it's attacking when her opponent isn't looking, or advising the younger and smaller Tekahentahkwa to hit the blind spot, to kick, and to even bite if need be.
- Dirty Coward: At one point, the family attempts to enter a store. Shortly after, the store's owner receives a call and the citizens start motioning to force them out. While the store owner is clearly reluctant to throw them out, he nonetheless does so even when he could do the right thing, not even letting them pay for their groceries before they leave.
- Downer Beginning: The family initially seems to have their biggest struggle as whether Tekahentahkwa gets into the high school her mother wants for her, joining a protest— of course, considering the nature of the protest, things quickly spike into irreparable violence that interrupts the peaceful mood.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: After all the horrors the family faces, Tekahentahkwa especially, her mother lives through childbirth and gives her a baby brother, April finds a safe home away from the toxic influences and starts being a kinder person, and the Mohawk resisters manage to score an agreement that keeps the burial ground safe— Tekahentahkwa even gets to go to the prospective high school she was looking at.
- Everyone Has Standards:
- The police officers don't do their jobs and laugh at the hate crimes committed against the innocent Mohawk people traveling through, but even they let Tekahentahkwa go when she throws rocks at them while furiously yelling at them for not protecting them, saying that she and her family have been through enough.
- April and her friends may be a horrible Toxic Friend Influence, but even they draw the absolute line at the hate crimes that Tekahentahkwa and her family are nearly subject to.
- From Bad to Worse: The protest gets worse and worse for the protestors, descending into violence quickly, leading to a barricaded-off zone, and eventually leading toward the arrival of the army.
- Harmful to Minors: Tekahentahkwa and Ruby, two children, are forced to watch the protests grow violent and endure horrific racism from the Canadian citizens.
- Mirroring Factions: Downplayed Trope, considering their clear differences, but the news reports compare the Mohawks guarding their lands violently and the police fighting against them, calling the situation "a tale of two barricades" and comparing their positions in the conflict. Similarly, the Mohawks resisting are contrasted with the white citizens— both have extreme hatred of the other and want them off their land, and both are framed somewhat similarly, but it's made quite clear that the citizens are worse in how vehemently racist they are.
- Parents as People: Tekahentahkwa's parents are overall kind people, but her father has an aggressive attitude and a belief in "toughening up" as a solution and not being overly influenced by , whereas her mother can be stifling and controlling. Tekahentahkwa clearly loves her parents, but has mixed feelings on how they treat her. To emphasize this, the two of them participate in the protests in different ways— her mother helps out subtly behind the scenes, while her father personally stands on the barricade.
- Pet the Dog: April's a bully and a toxic influence, but she is immediately defensive of Tekahentahkwa the second her friends start bullying her, even trying to discourage her from choosing "Dare," and even disgustedly apologizes and proclaims that she's too young when her brother kisses her. Later, she's genuinely horrified to learn that her brother tried to rape her and gets her away from him— though she also threatens her, they ultimately make up.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
- Tekahentahkwa gives a brutal speech to two cops for not protecting her, shouting that they have a job to defend people while she hurls rocks at them, and instead have sat by whenever the Mohawk citizens were subject to violence.
- Lily gives Tekahentahkwa a scathing rebuttal when she attacks a random white girl, exclaiming that they cannot descend in the way she does. Later on the road, she gives a similarly striking speech to the police officer
- Toxic Friend Influence: Between her willingness to physically hurt Tekahentahkwa , drag her into situations where she'll be hit on by teenage boys, and even pressure her to throw water balloons at armed men, it quickly becomes clear that April is a very bad influence who indulges Tekahentahkwa's worst attributes. That said, April isn't without her kinder qualities.
- Trauma Conga Line: Tekahentahkwa goes through a lot of horrors, from racism, to Toxic Friend Influence, to even an Attempted Rape in the woods, none of which the film shies away from displaying.
- Wham Line: April's brother telling Tekahentahkwa that he wants her to give him a blowjob.
- Would Hurt a Child: The white citizens' hostility toward children is one of the central indicators of just how horrible the situation is.
