By Judith Ruiz-Branch/Wisconsin News Connection via WXPR
Patty Loew attended five screenings of a new film this year. She wasn’t joining box office masses at Wicked or Inside Out 2, but Bad River: A Story of Defiance.
The independent documentary, directed by Mary Mazzio and released in March, drew in masses of its own. AMC Theatres put it up on select big screens across the United States. Peacock started streaming it last month.
The documentary highlights longstanding issues facing the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa in northern Wisconsin. Loew ‘Waswaagonokwe’ (Torch Light on the Water Woman) is a citizen.
She and other Band members are interviewed in the film, which explores tragic boarding school histories and how members of the Band have faced violence and racism.
The documentary heavily focuses on the Line 5 dispute between the Band and Canadian energy company Enbridge. Loew, who recently retired as director of the Center for Native American and Indigenous Research at Northwestern University (among many other titles), addresses it in the film.
“My little tribe is standing up and saying, ‘We’re protecting the water, not just for us. We’re protecting water for the planet.'”