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.

I liked this film because it gave a truly realistic view of how Metis families lived back during the Great Depression. No, this film isn't supposed to impress the audience with any kind of action or excitement since its a right-down-to-earth and conservative type of film. That's what makes it so unique. But what really got to me was when no one in society ever gave the Metis family a chance to live with them!! Everyone in the town kept giving the family a hard time and always ended up short changed!! For example, they had been forced to eat gophers NOT because they wanted to but because the townsfolk refused them access to the proper nutrition they needed just like anyone else. The family was also refused access to public places such as supermarkets, stores, schools etc JUST BECAUSE they were Metis and everyone had thought they were "squatting" on their land. The fact was that the whole land belonged to the Metis as well as the other First Nations so therefore they weren't "squatting" on it like the others wrongly believed. However life was so hard for them that they were lucky that they even found a decent place to live in. Imagine if they were treated with the same respect like everyone else in town?? Their lives would have been a lot more meaningful and fulfilling.

But........... anyways........ this is why I gave this one a 4 out of 10.