Caitlyn Dubé – High Steel

Director: Don Owen (1965)

Duration: 14 minutes

Link to watch: https://www.nfb.ca/film/high_steel/

Keywords: Indigenous; 1960s; ironworking; construction; New York City; Québec Bridge; Canadian Documentary; history; Canada; USA

High Steel is a 14-minute documentary film made for the National Film Board of Canada released in 1965 and directed by Don Owen. The film shows an ironwork crew of Mohawk men from the Kahnawake Reservation in Québec as they work 25 stories above ground assembling the steel framework for skyscrapers in Manhattan. The film is based on and shows the experiences of ironworker Harold McComber, but it is narrated in first person by Don Francks.

As we see the crew climbing and directing the path of flying steel beams, controlled by a crane with its operator on the ground 25 floors below, Francks’ voice describes what it is like to be in the air with no safety harness and how tricky the job can be while still maintaining a sense of humour. After introducing the work and showing some gut-wrenching shots, viewers are transported to the Kahnawake Reserve some 500km away. The differences between the loud grey of New York and the bright quiet of Kahnawake are emphasized by Don Owen’s contrastive editing; it is here that we learn about Harold’s family and upbringing on the reservation before he followed the money to New York. People at different ages and stages of life are shown doing a variety of activities, perhaps representing the director’s perspective on the domesticity of life on the reservation in comparison to the busyness and intensity of New York.

The film uses archival photos to show the project which first gave Mohawk men their reputation for high steelwork: the Québec Bridge. Its tragic collapse in 1907 killed over 30 Indigenous workers, some of which are shown in a photo of the workers’ lacrosse team that reminds viewers of their lives outside of work. The most startling and meaningful contrast in the film occurs when the camera shows an image of the grave of an ironworker who died at the Québec Bridge marked with a cross of steel beams immediately juxtaposed with a clip of Harold McComber free climbing a vertical beam, emphasizing the thin line between life and death that comes with the job.

Though it is short, the film brings up many complex topics: identity, change, family, loss, community, migration; connecting them through striking imagery, music, and contrast. The men in the film are examples of under-portrayed migrant workers who, despite dealing with familial separation and stereotypes and working in dangerous conditions, continue to relocate for work. The film is very on-trend for its time; it’s a more “traditional” piece of Indigenous media that displays Indigenous people in a way that’s comfortable for a white/settler audience and uses dated and politically incorrect terminology.

The use of first-person narration provides context to the imagery and gives the audience an insider perspective into construction and life on the reservation. The narrator explains what the workers are doing as we see them working, he uses the crew’s terminology which provides another layer of knowledge and understanding. This insider narrative keeps the focus on the workers rather than the filmmakers who aren’t shown. Having the narrator be a different person than they say they are creates a disconnect, one which is furthered by the narrator portraying an Indigenous man while not being of Indigenous descent (Don Franks is an honorary member of the Red Pheasant Cree Nation according to the Canadian Encyclopedia [2016]), which is inherently problematic.

Narration is used throughout the film, except at transition points where the film switches topics or locations. At these points in the film, parts of the original song “Mountains of Iron and Steel” by Bruce Mackay are played. The piece is a masculine heartfelt ballad with lyrics that reflect sorrow, longing, and helplessness. The careful cuts and graceful, rhythmic movements of the ironworkers layered with music show their work as art: a high dance on the edges of a buildings’ skeleton. I would like to know if the song was written before or after the narrative of the film was decided and to what extent the director was involved in the songwriting process.

High Steel is a beautifully edited film that gives meaning through contrast and has the perfect balance of narration, music, and sound. This short film tells the little-known backstory of the people behind New York’s iconic skyline from hundreds of feet in the air and shows their lives back in Canada as well as the historic connections between their people and ironwork. It is a heartfelt story that connects Canadian and American history. I would recommend this film to anyone with an interest in history, cinema, or cityscapes.

Sources:

National Film Board of Canada. (2008, December 15). High Steel. National Film Board of Canada; National Film Board of Canada. https://www.nfb.ca/film/high_steel/

Don Francks | The Canadian Encyclopedia. (2016). Thecanadianencyclopedia.ca. https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/don-francks