Comparative Film Review

The two films that I have chosen to compare are We Were Children by Tim Wolochatiuk and Finding Dawn by Christine Welsh. Although both films focus on different subject matters, it becomes evident that they are directly connected. In We Were Children, we’re introduced to the reality of the residential school system in Canada, which becomes the film’s focus. Therefore, the filmmaker takes us through a retelling of events through the eyes of two children, Lyna and Glen, who experienced it firsthand. What we learn from this retelling, and what I believe the filmmakers are trying to say is that this is what really happened. Children were taken from their homes and placed in residential and boarding schools where they experienced years of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse. Whether that be Lyna being physically abused in the classroom or Glen locked away in confinement by the priests, we observe every gruesome detail of these children’s reality. In connecting this film to the assigned readings, we see a direct reflection. A portion of Part 3 is solely dedicated to Residential schools and the reality as to what occurred during the 165 years that they were running. For example, the textbook notes, “indigenous children were taken from their homes, separated from their communities and families, and were forbidden to speak their languages or practice their cultures… [as well as being] subjected to physical, sexual, and mental or spiritual abuse.”[1] Furthermore, in having to experience the trauma from these events or enduring it second hand from intergenerational trauma, it’s no surprise that Finding Dawn references Dawn’s family (members of the Sto:lo nation) being at the eye of the hurricane that came with European settlement, residential schools included[2], at the beginning of a film focusing on missing and murdered indigenous women (MMIWG) in Canada. Therefore, what I believe the filmmakers are trying to say is not only that many indigenous women and girls have been murdered or have gone missing (500 as of 2006[3]), but that this will continue to happen if people ignore this information and refuse to take action. In order to project this message, the filmmakers address the issue of the MMIWG from Skid row, the “Highway of Tears,” to Saskatoon by interviewing family members of three different indigenous women (Dawn, Ramona, Daleen) who have fallen victim, as well as interviewing Janice Acoose, a Native rights activist. It’s a reminder that these women aren’t just statistics; they are daughters, sisters, mothers, and friends, all of whose death or disappearance has profoundly affected not only their immediate family but also the entire community[4]. Moreover, comparing this film to the readings, we see a reflection once again as Chapter 10 focuses on indigenous women’s experiences under settler colonialism. Therefore, referencing “indigenous women making up 16 percent of all female homicide victims in the period 1980-2012… [As well as] the “Highway of Tears” being a focus of the MMIWG inquiry[5].

[1] Belshaw, Nickel, and Chelsea Horton, Histories of Indigenous Peoples and Canada (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, 2020), 258.

[2] Finding Dawn, directed by Christine Welsh (2006: Montreal, QC: National Film Board of Canada, 2009), Video file.

[3] Ibid.

[4] Ibid.

[5] Belshaw, Nickel, and Chelsea Horton, Histories of Indigenous Peoples and Canada (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, 2020), 295.