L'enfance retrouvée

"The Lost Child" is the story of Rebecca, a woman who is looking for her birth family. She posts inquiries (sp) over the Internet, and finally gets a response from a Navajo woman named Grace, who turns out to be her sister.

Rebecca goes out to visit the family, and meets her father, Yazzi Monroe, as well as Grace and her other sisters, and her extended family. From there, she gets pulled into the culture. Her husband and two daughters, however, are not fond of rez life, but they go anyway.

I videotaped this movie the night it aired on television, and watched it several times. Keep your eyes open for the beautiful Irene Bedard ("Smoke Signals") as Grace, and Mercedes Ruehl ("Frasier") as Rebecca. The scenery is beautiful, as well.

But, one thing is the problem, and that is on this message board. I don't know what all the fuss is about this being unrealistic?

I can understand the question of why Rebecca doesn't continue to search for her long-lost twin, but you have to understand that she was excited about meeting her birth father, and birth sisters. For what we know, she may have looked into the matter afterwards.

And as for no one wanting to move to the reservation, I can say that I would in a second. Whenever I go to the rez to visit family, I get a strange, yet good, feeling, something I would never feel in my native Pennsylvania. Heck, in a years time, I'll be living the good life on the rez, without any regrets.

I enjoyed this film overall the story appealed to me personally since I'm adopted out as well but I had a lot of problems with the production and casting. Mercedes Ruehl is a fine actress but no way does she look Navaho. All the Navaho's I know are big round people at best Mercedes could past as some northern tribe Sioux or Chickasaw but never Navaho and certainly not from full-bloods, (is there not enough native actresses out there for this role) I thought the actress who played her eldest daughter was very good. She definitely had one of the funnies lines of the movie something like 'yes but the white half has to get more sleep' sorry you have to see it to understand, I though she acted very well and delivered the line well too but again she was about as much skin (meaning native) as she was black. So the movie suffered for me because I couldn't believe that they were any part Dine'.

Such conflict within my soul! Oh the torment! On one hand, the acting in this TV movie is just excellent. Mercedes Ruehl, the lead, is wonderful as Rebecca, as is her husband (Jamey Sheridan), the ever good-lookin Ned Romero as her dad, and Julia McIlvaine as her eldest daughter. So that makes it hard for me to say that the casting ruined the movie.

I simply could *not* get past the fact that Ruehl is supposed to be a full-blood Dine. I was so confused when I realized that neither her mom nor dad was supposed to be white--I assumed the character was half-white. Maybe possibly sorta kinda (given the unpredictability of genetics) Ruehl could pass as half-Dine, but even that's pushing it. She isn't Native at all, although she could certainly 'pass' as a quarter. But not Navajo! (For that matter, a bunch of the Indian actors don't look Navajo at all, but I can get past that because it's so normal (Irene Bedard has played a Navajo role a zillion times, but even she and the other sisters, including the awesome Tamara Podemski, look nothing alike). Even worse, the girl who plays the young Rebecca looks so white that it's jarring to see her in a shot with her birth mother, all while knowing that her dad is supposed to be Ned Romero (who does look Navajo in his old age). I would also complain about casting Julia McIlvaine as her elder daughter, who clearly isn't half Dine but rather could've stepped right off the Nina, the Pinta, or the Santa Maria (the younger daughter could presumably have just gotten 80% recessive genes, but she wasn't very convincing either). But this is based on a true story, and indeed, I do know mixed-race families where someone impossibly comes out with blondish hair (like my cousin)...and then there are all those 1/128 blonde Cherokees, of course. But STILL! So hard to get past. And, as great as Mercedes Ruehl was, there are plenty of excellent Native actresses her age who could've been casted instead. Why not Sheila Tousey? She could have totally pulled off this character (and is light-skinned enough to be convincingly racially ambiguous in her prior life). Enough complaining, but I hate that I can't put this on my Good Indian Movies list (see my Listmania) because of this glaring problem. Tragic! Indeed!

On the other hand, because this is based on a true story, there's a great deal of non-Hollywood realism here that I really appreciated. Aside from the totally cheesy Hallmark soundtrack and Wise Indian Elder lines they made Tantoo Cardinal say, the relationships and family dynamics played out with such genuineness, and that's what really makes you care about the story. The cultural dissonance played out really effectively, too, and had enough tension to make you feel it and invest in the characters more. (Although--I felt that some of that dissonance was presented in too much of a one-sided way and could make white viewers see Navajo culture in a negative light.) I'm torn (oh woe!) on the last positive, too...I thought they presented a really broad sense of life on that particular rez from the average school to the community center, but there were also times when I also felt they were kinda making things seem more 'exotic' than they really are. I mean, where were the schoolkids listening to rap? Where was the bingo? But as a whole, I thought the story was engaging and well told. I'm interested in checking out the book now.

There is a lot in this movie. Not just a wide variety of emotions but also different cultures, different places, different circumstances, different people. And yet unless you dig into these different things and absorb them, the movie will seem very slow in a lot of places.

Rebecca's backstory is pretty sad. Apparently she was a Navajo baby who was stolen from a hospital. Then she was passed from family to family which seems strange since someone went to the trouble to steal her. Finally she finds a mother who wants to keep her and when Becky is a teen, mom dies. When dad remarries, the new wife doesn't want her. At one point there is a scene in the rain where Becky's words to the new wife just sucked breath out of me, they were so heartbreaking. She wanders in life for a while finally marrying a good man and raising two daughters.

In searching for her twin brother, Becky finds relatives who are Navajo, including her father and sisters. That's when cultures clash. For most part the clash isn't violent, but still difficult. A shock. Becky makes choices that are difficult and create a lot of tension. The life she is choosing is not easy. She's finding that being Navajo is not easy.

In the latter half of the movie there are situations that increases the drama and the tension so that the pace doesn't seem so slow.

I found it interesting that the very last movie I watched had Jamey Sheridan in it and there were several parallels that were striking. The parallels in both involved his character's daughters. Another thing I found very interesting is the juxtaposition of ethnicities. This Navajo girl is raised Jewish.

The acting is good by many of the players. But what is striking about the movie is the depth it goes into on a variety of subjects. It is not a fun movie and much of it is not upbeat, but it is a good one. My rating reflects more how I felt about the tone rather than the quality of the movie.

The Lost Child is based on the real life story of Yvette Melanson which is documented in her book titled "Looking For Lost Bird." This film has deep meaning, dealing realistically with a variety of life situations. Mercedes Ruehl did a superb performance as Rebecca and is exceptionally talented. Julie McIlvaine (Carolyn), Tantoo Cardinal (Aunt Mary), Jamie Sheridan (Jack), Irene Bedard (Grace) and others also contributed greatly to the quality of this film." Rebecca's resilience certainly was a major factor in her rising above the difficulties of her early life. One great quote "life is what you make it; you have to ride it and not let it not ride you."

The film dealt with an array of emotions and feelings: grief, rejection, disappointment, fear, sadness, exuberant joy, vibrance, fiesty determination and great excitement over things that an average person takes for granted. The Matthews were a very loving and caring family but the film also portrayed the family's realistic struggles and stresses in not only coping with a move to another part of the country but in adjusting to an entirely different culture as well. Yvette describes those adjustments to the Navajo lifestyle and their lives with her people in detail in her book.