Catherine Hernandez adapts her novel, set in a very specific eastern Toronto neighbourhood, for the screen
One thing it’s not is a single neighbourhood. With an area of 187 square kms and a population in the last census of 632,000, this chunk of Greater Toronto is huge and diverse. If it stood alone it would be Canada’s 10th largest city., delivered a love letter to the region, with a story of three children growing up in its Galloway Road area. Now she has closely adapted her work into the screenplay forAt the centre of the sprawling story are three kids, each about eight.
Filmed in an almost documentary style and from a kid’s-eye perspective, the movie finds the three developing a friendship at the school they attend. Before classes they can often be found in its drop-in centre, where the friendly Ms Hina entices her tiny charges with a snack program, amuses them with songs and games, and gently tries to encourage reading skills.
And my heart went out to Ms Hina, whose dark skin and hijab make her a target of several parents’ micro-aggressions. One mom pointedly asks if the kids will be singing Christmas carols at that time of year. Laura’s dad is even worse, giving the well-meaning co-ordinator the stinkeye at very opportunity. “Daddy says you eat babies,” Laura says in an unguarded moment. Ms Hina merely asks if Laura also thinks that. The girl shrugs: “No.
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