The rhetorical documentary The Sacred Place Where Life Begins (2013) draws on the voices of Gwich’in women to address more explicit environmental concerns, oil drilling on the coastal plains of the Alaskan Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The opening shows a map of this corner of Alaska, highlighting it as one of America’s last and greatest wildernesses, but it is also the homeland of the Gwich’in people. Gwich’in women powerfully articulate what they will lose if the U.S. opens this area for drilling. The Gwich’in homeland includes parts of Alaska and Canada but more importantly, it overlaps with the range of the Porcupine Caribou. The Gwich’in rely physically, culturally, and spiritually on the porcupine caribou herd, so much so that their t-shirts read, “Caribou is Our Life.” Oil drilling in this Arctic Refuge coastal plain will threaten this herd because that is the site of the herd’s birth and nursing range. Because they rely on the caribou for their life and culture, for the Gwich’in, the area is “The Sacred Place Where Life Begins.”
This short film takes the time to provide evidence for this threat. According to research, oil drilling in this critical caribou calving habitat drives away female caribou and calves and diminishes calves’ survival rates. Opening the coastal plain of the refuge to drilling would have tragic consequences for the Gwich’in, who are inherently connected to the caribou. Shots of caribou carcasses emphasize this connection. For Gwich’in women such as Sarah James, drilling means “drilling into our hearts and our existence.” The film also draws on legal evidence to make its point. Because the caribou and Gwich’in people share this symbiotic relationship, drilling in the refuge also violates the United Nation Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. According to the Declaration’s Article 8, section 1, “Indigenous peoples and individuals have the right to not be subjected to forced assimilation or destruction of their culture.” Because drilling will disrupt the caribou on which their culture and livelihood rely, it also violates this article.
The documentary provides a short history of this movement, showing news footage and articles to substantiate the tribes’ fight for their culture. The Gwich’in have fought this drilling since 1988 and now gather every two years to protect the coastal plain. Gwich’in women highlight the multiple ways the tribe uses the caribou for food, clothing, shelter, tools, and medicine. As Kay Wallis of Fort Yukon explains, “As the caribou go, so will the Gwich’ in go.” Their responsibility is to protect the caribou habitat.The rest of the documentary gives voice to these Gwich’in women, who each provide reasons why the caribou should be preserved. In the first segment, several women demonstrate the relationship between the caribou and Gwich’in people. Footage of the caribou accompanies each assertion about how the caribou sustain them. The next section draws parallels between women as life givers and the caribou. For the Gwich’in, the caribou are like children who must be nurtured instead of slaughtered. Velma Wallis of Fort Yukon, Alaska asserts, “As women we have the fundamental role to speak out on behalf of mother earth. There’s been enough destruction. It’s time for healing. It’s time for women’s spirituality, and it’s time for women’s connection.” Images of the April 2010 BP oil rig explosion and spill in the Gulf of Mexico highlight the dire consequences of doing nothing. In the next sections, women are designated the keepers of traditional knowledge and the protectors of the Porcupine caribou herd. Because the caribou can’t voice for themselves, it is the duty of the Gwich’in women to speak for them, they say. Darlene Herbert of Fort Yukon puts it bluntly, “You cannot put your oilfields there. That’s where caribou go to breed.”
Ultimately, as Charlene Fisher of Beaver, Alaska explains, they are stewards of the land. For her, “as an indigenous person we’re always looking to protect our land. We are bound by these lands, so the refuge is almost like a border to us. We were always taught to be careful, to give back to the earth. Don’t take too much. Protect the land.” Protecting the caribou also provides a way to honor ancestors and provide hope for the future. A poster asks, “Will the caribou go the way of the buffalo? Or will you save our Arctic way of life?” Photos of stacked buffalo bones illustrate their horrific history. “All we’re asking is to make sure we have that one little area, the sacred place where the caribou give birth to their young. Keep that place protected for all time. To fight for this future, they reach out to the world and offer suggestions for change to protect the refuge. “This is our home. This is our land,” they declare. Although requests for viewers to sign petitions and write to Congress so they will vote for the Arctic Wilderness Act end the film, the Arctic as home serves as the strongest argument to stop drilling.
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