Watch The Little Deputy

The Little Deputy is a 2015 short film that touches on themes of family, identity and masculinity. Directed by Trevor Anderson and featuring a cast of Shannon Blanchet, Trevor Anderson, and Rob Chaulk, the movie is a genuine and heartfelt exploration of how people, particularly men, form their sense of self. The story is told with a clever use of animations, live-action footage, and archival footage, and switches back and forth between present and past day reflections. The Little Deputy centers around the director himself, who, as a child, had always imagined himself to be a cowboy. However, instead of a proper cowboy job, he becomes a filmmaker, which has left him feeling like he’s never truly embodied the hero he always envisioned himself becoming.

The film opens up with a scene where young Anderson is caught stealing a belt buckle by his father, who is shown as an authoritarian figure with a natural bent to violence. In a moment that defines the rest of the movie, we see Anderson’s father burning his cowboy book collection in front of him, leaving him disillusioned and aghast.

As the narrative unfolds, we come to know about the filmmaker’s relationship with his late brother, Matt, who appears in the visual escapades as the Little Deputy. With its well-balanced script, The Little Deputy deals with complex family dynamics like sibling rivalry, love, and loss, through the prism of the Western genre. As Anderson tried to be the cowboy he always wanted to be, his brother Matthew eventually turns more towards the Wild West and the world of “cowboys and Indians” than his brother ever could.

Through a series of lively and playful vignettes that possess a great sense of humor alongside vulnerability, Anderson filters his own feelings and experiences through the lens of a child’s sense of imagination. As the director recreates his boyhood in ways that hilariously demolish his father’s authoritarian personality and serve to pay homage to what he has come to understand as the romantic old western, he slowly moves toward the realization that how we view ourselves and our identities is always evolving.

Despite being so personal for Anderson, the viewer gets the sense that the Little Deputy is about more than just one man and his history. It is a tender, thoughtful, and hilarious examination of how we all construct our identities, and how our connection to the heroes we see on the screen, and our families can either support that construction or tear it all away.

Overall, The Little Deputy is an enjoyable watch that tackles themes of masculinity, identity, and self-expression in a way that is authentic and intuitive. Trevor Anderson has done a tremendous job conveying an emotional and engaging story that is grounded in his own experiences but relatable to anyone who has ever wrestled with their identity. The film’s incorporation of animated elements adds a sense of whimsy and magic to a story that is already charming and profound. It’s well worth checking out for its imaginative approach and its inspiring message.

The Little Deputy is a 2015 western with a runtime of 8 minutes. It has received mostly positive reviews from critics and viewers, who have given it an IMDb score of 7.2.