Places Not Our Own

Many testimonies and biographies attest to the validity of this movie's claim that life for a prairie Metis family before and during the Great Depression was 10 times worse than for any other family. In this film, the "Halfbreeds" live on the road allowance, are refused access to public schools, and are forced to eat gophers and stolen chicken. The mother is played by now famous Tantoo Cardinal(billed as Tantoo Martin Cardinal in the film credits)but it is the young protagonist Flora played by the always charming Diane Debassige(the star of"THE WAKE" and "LOYALTIES")who steals the show. Her Flora meets a kindly white woman Mrs. Harvey played by Kirk Grayson. When Flora, who loves to read romance stories like Alcott's LITTLE WOMEN and stories about queens,is denied further education, Mrs. Harvey, a former school teacher, takes her under her tutelage. The script is very poetic. When the mother tells Flora, after a brief rebellious act, "You ruined all our chances", her daughter very eloquently responds "We never had any chances". There's also an ongoing metaphor about the Metis family having to live like wolves, avoiding the white man's traps. In the story's climax, Flora says "They'll never catch me", which is also the closing lines of a very similar short Canadian film called "Boys and Girls" with Megan Follows. All and all, this film is realistic yet artistic, and a nice companion piece to Maria Campbell's story HALFBREED.