Where the Spirit Lives

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.

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.

It is set in Alberta, Canada, beginning in 1937 and tells the story of a Kainai Nation girl abducted from her family and sent to a residential school further north in Alberta.

Ashton-Komi (Michelle St. John) is the young girl legally kidnapped from her family along with her brother, Pita (Clayton Julian), by the Indian Agent, Taggert (Ron White). She and her brother are sent to a fictional Anglican-run residential school called King George V Indian Mission. It's run by a hard-nosed Anglican priest, Rev. Buckley (David Hemblen), whose goal is to shake the dirt of the Indian culture from his students' roots so that they can grow into Anglo-Saxon Canadian culture. A new English teacher, Kathleen Gwillimbury (Ann-Marie MacDonald), is appalled by much of what she sees at the school, befriends and assists Komi, but does not visibly protest the ill-treatment. Graham Greene makes a cameo appearance as Komi's father.

The story follows Komi's life at the school, which includes an arbitrary change of her name to Amelia, denial of the right to speak her own language, physical strapping, observing the sexual mistreatment of a fellow student by Miss Appleby (Chapelle Jaffe), a failed escape attempt, believing lies about the fate of her parents, and seeing the death of her best friend, Rachel (Heather Hess), after another failed escape.

The acting is strong, especially from Michelle St. John, Ann-Marie MacDonald, and David Hemblen. Unfortunately, this was a fairly low-budget film made for television. Some parts of the story would have benefitted from a bit more detail. Nonetheless, this is a striking immersion into the residential school experience and has not lost its power in the 30 years since first televised.

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.