Common Sense Media Review
By Sandie Angulo Chen
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Moving drama about missing Mohawk girl; violent themes.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 14+?
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Rustic Oracle
What's the Story?
RUSTIC ORACLE is a drama about a young Canadian First Nations girl whose teen sister goes missing—and how that disappearance affects her small family, her Mohawk community, and Indigenous communities at large. The movie, directed by Sonia Bonspille Boileau, herself a member of the Mohawk Nation of Haudenosaunee Confederacy, opens with a content warning because of the collective trauma experienced by Indigenous women on both sides of the Canadian-American border who've gone missing over several decades. The film, set in the 1990s, then introduces viewers to single mom Susan (Carmen Moore), who lives with her two daughters: 17-year-old Heather (McKenzie Deer Robinson) and 8-year-old Ivy (Lake Delisle). Susan trusts Heather with her little sister, but she also fights with her oldest daughter about sneaking out at night and refusing to disclose her whereabouts. One day at school, after a particularly ugly blow-up between mother and daughter, Heather doesn't pick up Ivy from school and doesn't come home. Ivy recalls seeing her sister with an older White man. Susan alerts the authorities, and soon Ivy is worried about nightmarish worst-case scenarios while Susan tries to find out the truth.
Is It Any Good?
This is a quietly powerful, well-acted drama that explores the epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls through the perspective of a loving little sister. While 2017's Wind River was excellent, it approached the subject matter from the perspective of a White man. Rustic Oracle rightly focuses on the actual girls and women from the community that's directly affected by the missing. Ivy is the main character, worrying and wondering about her older sister's whereabouts and all the possible fates that could await her. Young Delisle does a lovely job portraying the simple grief Ivy feels not having her beautiful older sister around, and Moore deftly conveys the rage and confusion of a mother on a mission.
Shot in Kanesatake, Boileau's Mohawk homeland, and other unceded Canadian locations, Rustic Oracle evokes the heartbreak and resilience of a community seeking recovery and justice for their missing girls and women. The film's end sequence includes the fact that "close to 4,000 of our Indigenous sisters in the last 40 years" have been lost. This movie is a tribute to the horrors of knowing that someone you love is gone and that not nearly enough people in power care about that fact. As Ivy's innocence is tested—knowing her sister is in harm's way, understanding her mother's desperation to get to the truth—she continues to hold on to hope. Slow and captivating, the movie may be difficult to watch, but it makes an important statement.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about Rustic Oracle's messages. Did you already know about the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women? If not, what did you learn? How did the closing message about missing Indigenous Canadian and Native American women make you feel?
Discuss the importance of watching or reading stories about a wide range of communities. What do you think about the representation in this movie?
What does the mom mean when she says "the world can be cruel to girls like us"? Why is violence against girls and women still so pervasive? What steps can you take to make sure girls and women are safe in your community?
Discuss how violence is referenced here. Is it necessary to the story? What's the impact of media violence on kids?
Movie Details
- On DVD or streaming : May 4, 2021
- Cast : Carmen Moore , Lake Delisle , McKenzie
- Director : Sonia Bonspille Boileau
- Inclusion Information : Female Movie Actor(s) , Indigenous Movie Actor(s)
- Studio : Hewes Pictures
- Genre : Drama
- Topics : Family Stories ( Siblings )
- Character Strengths : Empathy , Perseverance
- Run time : 101 minutes
- MPAA rating :
- Last updated : September 29, 2025
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