spiritualvista I have seen this movie many times. It never gets easier to watch. Historically the attitude towards educating the "heathens" is very close to policy (read Maureen Lux "Medicine that Walks"). As for the portrayal of the students, the abuse was pretty tame. If they actually showed what happened at the worst schools it never would have made it to production and could be classified as a snuff film. I've met people who've been in residential schools and are now in their late 70s and early 80s, one old lady never hugged her children for fear she'd be passing on sexual abuse. For the amount of awful events there were still some teachers that tried to make a positive impact on the lives of their students like we see in the film. Overall I'd recommend it for people as a starting point for research in the area. In one of the previous comments I read about "looking for a handle to get out of a plane", however if you don't know what a plane is and have never been in one that would be irrelevant. Michelle St. John is a good actress. She was also good in "conspiracy of silence" which I also recommend.

uphorea-1 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.

oilersrulenotsens This was a great movie I thought at portraying the native life in the schools but I thought that it was a little unbelievable. If someone was trapped in a plane the more logical choice than pounding on the window would to be try and find a handle, I thought the characters at times made foolish choices like following the road after escaping instead of going across the prairies to make it harder for the man to catch you. Other than that it was a good movie although difficult to follow the plot at times it was entertaining in some parts but a lot of the time became very, very boring which is why I only wanted to give it a 6 out of 10. I would not recommend this movie to anyone who just wanted to watch something but it would be a good in school movie as it deals with racism and a great amount of other things.

BigLaxFan94 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.