I couldn't help but cry throughout this whole film because of its sad nature. NO child should have to go through what those poor kids had to go through, NO ONE! This kind of thing never happened to non-Indigenous kids because their families would never put up with that nonsense. But only Indigenous kids were forced to go through with that. Of course, this not only affected the kids but also their families. Some families like the one I saw in this film, were forced to sign away their children's lives. If parents refused to sign, they usually went to jail. This was commonplace in real life as parents hated the very thought of being forced to send their kids to death camps like those darn residential/boarding schools. Anyway, I give this one a 7 out of 10.

One has to feel sorry for that dark historical period, but it is somewhat unjust to focus on Canada only when this was done all over America...

Just Google "human-rights/residential-schools-in-canada-and-the-us"

"Efforts to eradicate indigenous culture in the US began early, with denominations of Catholicism and Protestantism creating missions focused on indigenous education starting in the 1600s. These missions, crafted to convert indigenous people into the Christian faith, burdened their students with unfair education and disproportionate labour."

"1879: A new system developed with the establishment of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School (1879-1918) in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. It was marked by its significance as the first federal off-reservation residential boarding school and further influenced the systems in Canada and Latin America with its philosophy of complete assimilation through cultural genocide and strict military discipline.

Like the missions before, the Carlisle school stripped its students of their indigenous culture by implementing strict rules stating that each student was to take up a colonist name, clothing, the English language, the puritan religion and cut their hair. Maintaining ties to their culture was strictly prohibited, and students would face corporal punishment for breaking these rules. In some cases, older students were forced to physically punish younger students."

Considering that "In the US, the Department of Interior has identified 53 burial sites and expects this number to grow with further investigations of the recognised 408 US boarding schools." chances are that Hollywood will be next to make movies on that subject...

Okay it's quite sentimental, it's not always really goodly played and the structure is quite complex (it goes from a linear story line to cursive with plot twist and half a dozen story line to follow)

But! Scenery is beautiful, some photography and image composition deserve recognition, the stories told are touching and heartbreaking. The Mother-daughter feeling is well expressed to say the least.

It's long at moment and some scenes weaken the film but overall it's a touching film about a tragic subject, where people surprises you and the systemic endoctrination that autochtones preoples went trough will not live you impassible.