The people in question - as referenced in the title - are the Abenaki Indians of the northeastern United States, who now extend across the upper reaches of New England and the lower reaches of northeastern Canada. With her nonfiction film Waban-Aki: People From Where the Sun Rises, director Alanis Obomsawin provides nothing less than a full anthropological cross-section of the group's lifestyles, culture and social practices. She places particularly strong emphasis on the group's experiences at the hands of Christians in the U.S., who systematically (and, in many cases, unsuccessfully) attempted to induce conversion by issuing frightening warnings of hell and eternal damnation.
~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide