Phil Comeau’s Zachary Richard, Cajun Heart reminds me of a post in the social platform we now know as X. There, a frequent visitor once said, and I paraphrase ‘Canada – great people, terrible history,’ and there’s a truth there. This film has elements of mid-length historical documentaries – cinema verite, interviews, and maps. But these subvert typical history. When most people think of Acadians, one thinks that they either swore to the British or got deported.

For the most part, this documentary, a constant in small festivals, sticks to that but also emphasises certain things. ‘Deporting’ Acadians means that the Crown dispersed the former within Louisiana and the thirteen colonies, doing so violently. A lot of people died as a result of these deportations in ways that reflect twenty-first century genocides. In fact, Zachary Richard, Cajun Heart uses the word ‘genocide’, a part of a story that also involves resistance.

Zachary Richard, Cajun Heart, still uses Eurocentric thinking as the titular subject discusses Acadians’ relation to different lands. It also frames Acadians as people who incorporated Indigenous culture into theirs as opposed to the assimilating British. I am trusting these versions of events but certain framing earns the occasional double take, inadvertent or otherwise. That said, it’s important to remember what happened to the Acadians and make through lines with contemporary atrocities.

Zachary Richard, Cajun Heart tackles difficult subject matter and there are some cringey moments, like the Church singing. But thankfully, this film isn’t a total downer, as it references Acadian ‘terrorists’ or freedom fighters like Beausoleil Broussard. It also shows Acadian culture flourishing in two of the countries in Turtle Island, despite attempts of ethnic cleansing. This is what history docs should be like – seeing the past in a contemporary lens without being too modern.