Rhymes for Young Ghouls (2013) on Netflix
On the Red Crow Mi'kmaq reserve in 1976, teenage Aila runs her imprisoned father's drug trade and pays off the agent who runs St. Dymphna's residential school. Then her money is stolen.
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- Netflix3.7/5
- IMDb6.5/101,579 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes83%
Trailer
Plot summary
In 1976, on the Red Crow Mi'kmaq reserve, teenage Aila has taken over her father's drug business while he serves a prison sentence, with her uncle Burner, who uses and sells drugs, keeping an eye on her. The proceeds go to bribes for Popper, the abusive Indian agent who runs St. Dymphna's residential school, so that Aila is not sent there. Her younger brother was killed and her mother died years earlier, and Joseph took the blame and went to prison. When Aila's drug money is stolen, she has nothing to pay Popper with, and then Joseph returns home, unhappy about the business and resented by his daughter.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Rhymes for Young Ghouls (2013)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Anishinaabe writer Ali Nahdee created The Aila Test, a litmus test for Indigenous female characters in narrative, after seeing Rhymes for Young Ghouls; it was later renamed The Ali Nahdee Test. She formulated it in Finland during the Standing Rock Dakota Access Pipeline protests.
- Kawennáhere Devery Jacobs was 19 when she was cast as the teenage lead Aila in Rhymes for Young Ghouls, chosen from a pool of 70 actresses from across North America.
- The film's revenge plot is fictional, but it is based on the history of abuse of First Nations people by government agents, including many reported cases of mental and physical abuse of residential school children.
- The script was pitched at the Tribeca Film Festival to a jury of actors Cuba Gooding Jr., Rosario Dawson and Gabourey Sidibe, who voted unanimously to give it the $10,000 Creative Promise Award.
