Wo ich zuhause bin

I have seen this movie many times. It never gets easier to watch. Historically the attitude towards educating the "heathens" is very close to policy (read Maureen Lux "Medicine that Walks"). As for the portrayal of the students, the abuse was pretty tame. If they actually showed what happened at the worst schools it never would have made it to production and could be classified as a snuff film. I've met people who've been in residential schools and are now in their late 70s and early 80s, one old lady never hugged her children for fear she'd be passing on sexual abuse. For the amount of awful events there were still some teachers that tried to make a positive impact on the lives of their students like we see in the film. Overall I'd recommend it for people as a starting point for research in the area. In one of the previous comments I read about "looking for a handle to get out of a plane", however if you don't know what a plane is and have never been in one that would be irrelevant. Michelle St. John is a good actress. She was also good in "conspiracy of silence" which I also recommend.

A movie that all Canadians should see. The horror for Canada's aboriginal children living in Religious Residential Schools needs to be seen by all of our citizens. Seeing this film would be a first step in understanding the dysfunction in many aboriginal families that we often see and hear about today both off and on Canadian Native Land Reserves. Many aboriginal children were literally kidnapped from their reserves by powerful Indian Agents. This was terrifying for both the children and the families. An attempt of assimilation by the government and churches in Canada failed for the most part ruining so many lives. A very good casting and meaningful story make this a film worth watching.I would like to see this film become available to all schools in Canada.

My Father is a Micmac and so am I. I'm 16 now and when i first saw this movie it was the early 90s. i must have been about 4 or 5 years old. The movie is based on Shubenacadie Indian Residential School in Nova Scotia, Canada. My father was in that school for 6 years, longer then other people who where there. My dad isn't fixated on what happened while he was at that school, unlike other people. Some people that went to shubie school for 6 months talk about all that bad things that happened to them like they were there for 10 years. You'd never even know that my dad went there. When he does talk about shubie school it's not about the horrors of what went on, it's mainly good things like how the kids there used their slices of bread like money or how if you touched someone else food it became yours. That only bad thing he ever said about that school was that the food sucked so you had to eat it really fast. To this day he still eats his food fast, it doesn't even touch the plate and it's gone.

What i want to say is that i think this movie did an amazing job at portraying what went on behind the walls and that the Catholic church is messed up for thinking that they can "fix" everybody else to their standards. What happened in those schools is on some degree like what Catholic Priests molesting those children. For anyone who would really like to know more about Shubenacadie Indian Residential School, you should read "Out of The Depths" by Isabelle Knockwood. For rating i give this movie a 10 out of 10.

After seeing this film, I am appalled at how the nuns and priests treated all the Native kids in the past in the residential schools!! What I saw in this film was nothing compared to what happened in real life with kids who were forced to attend these "schools". Of course, I've never attended one so I obviously don't know what went on but after hearing the different horror stories by different Natives on TV, in books, newspapers, etc, I imagine that it was a lot worse for those kids who only wanted to be left alone with their families. The system just didn't care one bit about these kids or the families! All the schools ever did was take the kids away from them and their cultural identities!! Big mistake!! Well......... I'm sorry to say this but although the Church thought they were doing the right thing at the time, it was outright wrong!! Even if the Church apologized for their actions towards all the Native kids who used to attend these "schools", it will never erase the damage that has been done! It had occurred for way too long and too deep.

But............... anyways............... this is why I gave this film a 6 out of 10.

Where the Spirit Lives is a powerful and emotional movie underpinned with both Canadian and US history, superb acting, and beautiful landscape. The movie, taking place during the 1930s in Nova Scotia, takes a sensitive and moving look at how a dominant culture oppresses and/or destroys other cultures whose behavior is contrary to the dominant culture's norms and values. The movie also demonstrates the courage and tenacity of people as they struggle to hold on to their identity and to their families despite enormous odds. The film demonstrates some stereotypical character development: the pious but misdirected priest, the naive but good-intentioned new teacher, the highly cultured wealthy woman who intends on adopting the protagonist, the ugly, evil, and abusive assistant who sees the students as wicked savages. I use this movie in my English classroom in conjunction with the Social Studies curriculum on Minnesota and native American history. We specifically juxtapose commonalities such as theme with The Diary of Anne Frank and the novel by Minnesota author Jon Hassler, Jemmy, culminating in a compare/contrast essay.