Caught up in a turf war on Winnipeg’s mean streets

By A. O. Scott
New York Times

If it does nothing else, "Stryker," a grim little gang melodrama directed by Noam Gonick, might dispel some American assumptions about life in Canada. The streets of Winnipeg, where this crude, punchy picture takes place, look a lot like those in Detroit, Philadelphia or Los Angeles, as depicted in countless hip-hop-inflected movies (more than a few actually filmed in Canada) about the perils and thrill of the thug life.

One difference is that there is more snow on the ground. Another is the ethnicity of the gangs battling for control of the drug trade. The central character (Kyle Henry) is a 14-year-old boy from an Indian reservation who comes to Winnipeg by freight train after burning down an abandoned church. He arrives just in time to witness a fight between members of the Indian Posse, a crew led by a swaggering matriarch known as Mama Ceece (Deena Fontaine), and the Asian Bomb Squad, a mostly Filipino outfit whose boss is Ceece's archrival, Omar (Ryan Black).

From there, Stryker - not his name, which we never learn, but rather a slang term for a new gang recruit - takes a tour of the North Winnipeg lower depths, moving from a house full of transvestite prostitutes to police custody, and then to a foster home run by a dissolute Eastern European woman named Tania. He never speaks a word and serves as a mute witness to the brutality and squalor around him.

Mr. Gonick's point, underscored by the defiant, politically tinged rap on the soundtrack, is that much of Canada's indigenous youth has been forced into crime by a racist and unfeeling system, and that gangs represent a desperate form of political resistance. This idea might have been more persuasive, or at least more provocative, if "Stryker" had been executed with more force and coherence.

The mostly unprofessional cast does a lot of shouting and swearing, and Mr. Henry's face has a haunting impassivity, but the film does not offer much in the way of social insight or credible emotion. Its dogged sincerity is evident, but not enough to make it more than an amateurish curiosity.

Stryker

Opens today in Manhattan.

Directed by Noam Gonick; written by Mr. Gonick and David McIntosh; director of photography, Ed Lachman; edited by Bruce Little; music by Rezofficial; production designer, Mark Gebel; produced by Ryan Black and Mr. Gonick; released by Strand Releasing. At the Roy and Niuta Titus Theater, Museum of Modern Art, 11 West 53rd Street, Manhattan. Running time: 93 minutes. This film is not rated.

WITH: Kyle Henry (Stryker), Deena Fontaine (Mama Ceece), Ryan Black (Omar), Joseph Mesiano (Daisy), Nick Oullette (Cody) and Nancy Sanderson (Ruby).