Seeds: Embracing Rage
by Nirica S
“I could feel the hundreds of years’ worth of rage flowing through me,” Ziggy tells us at the start of Seeds, her face close to the camera, lit underneath by a torch as if she’s telling us a ghost story. “My people’s rage, just sizzling below the surface, ready to burst.” Then she pulls the camera back and tells us, with a laugh, how she’s channelling that rage into making great social media content.
Those first few minutes of Seeds, Kaniehtiio Horn’s debut feature film, tells us exactly what we’re in for—a tongue-in-cheek comedy-thriller, but one grounded in very real questions of identity, colonialism, and heritage. Ziggy, played by Horn herself, is a young Mohawk woman living and working as an influencer in Toronto. She jumps at the chance to sign a brand deal with Nature’s Oath Seed Company, drawn by the lure of both financial freedom and a way to get her gardening ideas into the spotlight. When her cousin calls her back to the rez to house-sit for her auntie, she makes her way home, armed with her cat, plenty of Nature’s Oath merch, and more than a few grumbles about the rez’s unreliable internet. But Nature’s Oath isn’t quite as altruistic as it seems, and Ziggy is about to get more than she bargained for. Someone is on the hunt for her family’s seeds, and they’ll stop at nothing to get them.
Seeds is a strikingly ambitious film for its tight, 82-minute runtime. It’s a home invasion film and an eco-thriller, but it’s also packed full of laughs, a fair share of gore, and surreal dream sequences featuring legendary actor Graham Greene. The film’s central conflict draws from the real world—Nature’s Oath is likely modelled after companies like Monsanto, that weaponise colonialism and capitalism to encroach on reservation land and traditional farming. But as we spend more time with Ziggy, we learn she is a lot more capable than it would seem—when her home and her loved ones are in danger, Ziggy pulls no punches. Kaniehtiio Horn is delightful to watch as Ziggy, bringing a playfulness to her role and moving between moments of action and humour with ease.
It might be tempting to compare Seeds to something like Home Alone or John Wick—there are elements of both—but neither comparison captures the breadth of what Seeds covers. At times, it’s perhaps a bit too ambitious for its own good: some character decisions are suspect and might not hold up against close scrutiny, and I found myself wishing the film would linger longer on its more emotional moments. But it’s striking, in retrospect, how cohesive the film’s ideas are. The titular seeds of the film come to symbolise much more than just a farming tradition. They’re symbolic of a way of living, of the creation of life, and of all the things—physical and emotional—that are passed down through generations.
As Seeds hurtles towards a delightfully violent and deeply satisfying ending—one signposted right from the start—we see that Ziggy has learnt how best to use her ancestors’ rage. She is embracing the seeds of her heritage, and making sure she’s planting the right ones for her future.