IMDb RATING
6.4/10
466
YOUR RATING
An adopted woman tries to track down her family and ends up discovering that she was stolen from her birth mother on a reservation when she was just a little girl.An adopted woman tries to track down her family and ends up discovering that she was stolen from her birth mother on a reservation when she was just a little girl.An adopted woman tries to track down her family and ends up discovering that she was stolen from her birth mother on a reservation when she was just a little girl.
- Director
- Writers
- Stars
- Awards
- 1 win & 1 nomination total
Maynard Bell
- Rabbi
- (as Rabbi Maynard Bell)
Ash Burritt
- Rebecca at 13 Years
- (as Ashley Burritt)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Featured reviews
I wanted to like this film yet the acting by Mercedes is so poor I can't get into the film. An actor or actress really defines the story and with Mercedes it's just not real enough.. Id like to see another version with a different lead and I'm sure I'll have a better rating.
Excellent film. Mercedes Ruehl gave an excellent performance as Rebecca. One of the outstanding features of this film is the demonstration that people can succeed in spite of childhood rejection. Scenery was gorgeous. I have viewed this film several times and each time I am inspired by its content, quality, and Rebecca's persistence in finding her natural family. I plan to read the book.
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.
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.
I was not only touched by Rebecca's situation in "The Lost Child" because it was well-presented (the story), I was touched because I never knew my father until 6 years after he died, and have known none of that side of my family. However, in 1966, I lived in Nazlini, AZ on the Navajo Reservation as a VISTA Volunteer, and my "adopted" family there has remained close all these years. I feel more at home there, even after all these years, than anywhere else.
Someone commented that it was sloppily made. OK, it wasn't where it should be, it didn't have the "right actors"...but the STORY IS TRUE and the actors were so moving that I wept many times in this movie and I can't put it down in any way. Thank you for presenting it.
Someone commented that it was sloppily made. OK, it wasn't where it should be, it didn't have the "right actors"...but the STORY IS TRUE and the actors were so moving that I wept many times in this movie and I can't put it down in any way. Thank you for presenting it.
I sat down with a little scepticism for this movie. The description of the movie on the television guide did not sound that appealing. However, after a slow start in the first 20 or so minutes I really got into it.
The movie is about this woman who was adopted as a child, and then as a married adult with kids of her own, decides to start looking for her birth family. She finds them in a native American reservation!
As I have friends in the US who are native American and I have been told many stories about their traditions I was very impressed with how they conveyed that culture on the screen.
You may also recognise the grandmother. She was in Dr Quinn Medicine Woman as Cloud Dancing's wife.
I highly recommend this movie!
The movie is about this woman who was adopted as a child, and then as a married adult with kids of her own, decides to start looking for her birth family. She finds them in a native American reservation!
As I have friends in the US who are native American and I have been told many stories about their traditions I was very impressed with how they conveyed that culture on the screen.
You may also recognise the grandmother. She was in Dr Quinn Medicine Woman as Cloud Dancing's wife.
I highly recommend this movie!
Did you know
- TriviaJamey Sheridan played Randall Flagg in the 1994 adaptation of Stephen King's The Stand. Irene Beddard would go on to play Ray Brentner in the 2020 adaptation of The Stand.
- ConnectionsEdited into Hallmark Hall of Fame (1951)
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- Hallmark Hall of Fame: The Lost Child (#50.1)
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