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Canadian cinema has left an indelible mark on films about Aboriginal people and films about life on the Prairies during the Great Depression. In the film "Where the Spirit Lives", these two areas meet. As of this writing, the imdb users have given this film a 9/10 rating and with valid cause. The storyline is strong yet ultimately predictable. The movie's main force comes with the contrast between the utopic world of the Aboriginal life on the reservation/trapline and the much dystopic world of the white man/Catholic residential school. The film begins with the heroine Komi enjoying an innocent, culturally rich,nearly paradisal life outdoors. The viewer is made to recall this opening scene when the antagonist Reverend Buckley(played to menacing perfection by David Hemblen) gives this line which seems to support the Catholic church's theory at the time: "These children come to us from a dead culture; it's like a millstone around their necks; our job is to remove this terrible burden and give them their freedom". Later, Reverend Buckley uses the analogy of knocking the old soil from a plant's roots to help it grow. These ironic lines help him justify taking these, as he calls them, "little brown children of the prairie" from their families and way of life and forcing them to learn the white ways. Another nice poetic touch from the film is when Rachel, a young student who was sexual abused by a FEMALE matron(another nice detour from the cliche)escapes to witness her people's Sun Dance ceremony where she can "Touch the sun and become a star". Rachel's subplot helps to reinforce both that their culture is anything but "Dead" and that life in the whiteman world is not a desirable as the priests and leaders at the school would like to think. Rachel's attempt to retain her culture's Sun Dance ritual is inspired by the heroine Komi's refusal to give up her Indian name, her language, her smudging(smoke and prayer)ritual, her rite of passage to womanhood, and mainly her contact with her family. Another nice ironic/symbolic contrast is the snippet of a hymn the children sing at the school: "All creatures great and small, All things wise and wonderful, the Lord God loves them all". This seems to neatly sum up the sentiment of the fimmakers. Yes, the Lord loves all people; it's too bad some of HIS PEOPLE don't. This is the prototype film on Residential Schools and it has everything a classic film on Aboriginal people should have including music by Buffy Sainte Marie and an appearance by actor Graham Greene.

I first saw this movie in middle school.....i remember this movie so much because it impacted me to such a degree. the emotional journey the main character takes you through helps as a viewer to understand the horrors that have been inflicted upon the natives of north America. I firmly believe that this movie is not only good for private home use, this is a great educational tool as well. I think that movies like this are why film is such a valuable teaching resource and such a valuable tool for educating a broad public audience at home via television. Overall a great film and i recommend it to teachers for their classes, and parents to show their children.

As a non-Catholic and a non-continental Native, this story was completely new to me. The trauma these people endured under the guise of religion was tragic and in no way instilled Christianity, nor did it follow the rules of Christianity. Of course, we hear stories about white children enduring the same sort of mistreatment and abuse.

It has been so long since I have seen this movie (my brother recorded it way back then, but I haven't borrowed the tape to see it again) but I do recall it was all wonderfully filmed and how the children spoke friendly to one another, the only other ones they saw that they could relate to.

The movie sought to emphasize that not all Anglicans were horrible as the pilot who abducted the children quit after the discovery of the girl who ran away and we did at least have a teacher who realized there were problems when a soft knock came to the door one night.

By far, the most enchanting part of this movie was St. Marie's song and music. Definitely captured the culture.

Very thought provoking movie.

I don't recall if my brother recorded the program that came after it, about the adults now who were subjected to this cruelty. They sported t-shirts that read "I survived Catholic school" and so on.

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.