Where the Spirit Lives (1989)

A young Native Canadian (First Nations person) fights to keep her culture and identity when she is abducted to a residential school.

Director:

Bruce Pittman

Writer:

Keith Ross Leckie

Stars:

Michelle St. John, Kim Bruisedhead Fox, Marianne Jones

7 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Michelle St. John	...	Komi / Amelia
Kim Bruisedhead Fox	...	Anataki
Marianne Jones	...	Komi's Mother
Gus Chief Moon	...	Ka - moos - ee
Clayton Julian	...	Pita / Abraham
Margaret Cozry	...	Grandmother
Marge Fox	...	Anataki's Mother
Ron White	...	Taggert
Ann-Marie MacDonald	...	Kathleen
Sean Mulcahy	...	Priest
Sam Malkin	...	Mr. Crawford
Doris Petrie	...	Miss Weir
Chapelle Jaffe	...	Miss Appleby
Tina Louise Bomberry	...	Asst. Supervisor #2 (as Tina Bomberry)
Barbara Wheeldon	...	Matron

Storyline

In 1937, a young First Nations (Canadian native) girl named Ashtecome is kidnapped along with several other children from a village as part of a deliberate Canadian policy to force First Nations children to abandon their culture in order to be assimilated into white Canadian/British society. She is taken to a boarding school where she is forced to adopt Western Euro-centric ways and learn English, often under brutal treatment. Only one sympathetic white teacher who is more and more repelled by this bigotry offers her any help from among the staff. That, with her force of will, Ashtecome (forced to take the name Amelia) is determined to hold on to her identity and that of her siblings, who were also abducted.

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Plot Keywords:

school | boarding school | native american residential school | canada | racism | 

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Taglines:

A moving tribute to a young girl's courage and indomitable spirit...

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

Canada

Language:

English

Release Date:

9 September 1989 (Canada)

Also Known As:

Henkien tanssi

Filming Locations:

Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta, Canada

Company Credits

Production Co:

Amazing Spirit Productions Ltd., Atlantis Films, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Quotes

Esther: So what do we got here? A real, live bush Indian. A real little savage.
[upon meeting Astokomi]

User Reviews

Almost Accurate

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.