Four Souls of Coyote review

This movie is a masterpiece. Visually speaking, the animation is gorgeous and reminds one of Cartoon Saloon’s films, and much like Wolfwalkers it deals with the themes of colonialism and nature. Only instead of taking place in the past, it takes place in the present as a group of activists try to stop pipelines being built, drawing strength from oral traditions.

In these oral traditions, the Coyote naturally takes center stage. While some critics have seen the portrayal of Coyote as too negative, in some cultures he is indeed an “evil” figure, and some of the stories like ‘Coyote and the Wasichu’ are indeed taken from real oral traditions. The fact that coyote has four lives like a cat is a film invention though. I speculate in part why the Coyote is used as a main antagonist is that more overt symbols of human evil in Native American stories, like wendigos and skin-walkers, are taboo and he’s not.

Overall, check out this movie. It will truly humble you