Three brothers born and raised in a small northern town rob a bank in an attempt to get out of poverty. They get away but when fear and greed seems to come between them they must decide what’s more important – family or money.
The oldest brother, Martin, is an alcoholic who is eventually arrested by Officer Perry, a corrupt police officer, who steals the bank robbery money and keeps it for himself while putting Martin behind bars. When Martin gets out of jail, nearly a decade later, he seeks revenge on Perry only to find that his revenge will be the cause of his younger brother, North’s, death.
The central conflict of this script is that Martin and North are constantly encountered by a corrupt police officer while trying to get away with a crime they committed together highlighting the issue of racial profiling in the police force in Canada.
North’s mission in the story is to help his mother. He wants to use the stolen money to buy her a bigger home that they both can live in so he can take care of her. Eddie, the middle brother’s mission is to be a good husband and father and to work hard and provide for his family. Martin does not have a clear mission in the story until the end where he seeks to find justice for his brother. He subconsciously associates authority with the untimely death of his father because of the affair that his mother was having with a police officer, Sergeant Lorenzen. Officer Perry’s mission is to find out who robbed the bank and put them away. His intentions turn corrupt when he realizes he has the potential to get away with unjust police work.
The stakes in this story are high in that both Martin and North are willing to risk their freedom. North has robbed the bank in order to rise out of his current living situation while Martin has robbed the bank in order to seek revenge for his father.
The underlining theme in this script is that Martin is dealing with alcoholism and subconscious childhood trauma along with the intergenerational impacts of colonialism and witnessing his father’s own trauma causing him to rebel against authority. Throughout the story we see Martin face many adversities. He makes many poor decisions and learns that revenge isn’t always the best way to go about seeking retribution. At the end of the script there is closure as the main character, Martin, is in a position to gain back control over his life and begin his own healing process.
The irony of the story is when Eddie, deemed the good brother, who works hard and pays bills, dies of cancer at a young age.
This story is unique in that there are not very many feature films that portray Indigenous people from the north. It is fresh and original because it is reflecting on the broken relations with Indigenous people and authority figures. This story is full of action and suspense. It is a story of one Indigenous family’s troubles, which often expose the realities of what it is like to live in a world with prevailing racism against Indigenous peoples especially in northern communities. This story is one that many diverse minority audiences will be able relate to.
Genre: Drama
Acts: 3
Run time: 120 minutes
Suitable for students 14+
Content notes: Contains references to suicide, residential school trauma
Cast size: 12 actors
Male roles: 7
Female roles: 4
Trans/Non-Binary/Gender Non-Conforming roles: 1
Casting notes:
North - 20 or 30 year old Male, Indigenous
Martin - 20 or 30 year old Male, Indigenous
Eddie - 20 or 30 year old Male, Indigenous
Franki - 20 or 30 year old Female, Indigenous
Delores - 60 year old Female, Indigenous
Dora-Lee - 5 years old, Female, Indigenous
Officer Perry - 30 to 40 year old Male, Caucasian
Officer McConnel - 20 to 30 year old Male, Caucasian
Officer Lorenzen - 60 year old Male, Caucasian
Chey - 20 to 30 year old Indigenous, Female
Father - 60 year old Indigenous, Male