Little Bird (2023) User Reviews

an extraordinary story & a terrific production

[foulke99 · 9/10 · 30 June 2023]

An extraordinary story & a terrific production. I gave it a "9" - which for me is rather unusual. I just finished watching the final episode, and rarely have i felt so disappointed to see a series end as i feel now.

Highly highly recommended. The one factor which diminishes my review is the note that i must type two hundred and sixty some more characters for this review. Are they lying ... (i hope ..)

nope. Looks like they want me to ramble on . . . Well it takes place in montreal and in regina and thereabouts, and presents a rather dim view of canadian child protective services vis-a-vis the native population ...

After just one episode.. Much, much more than a TV series.

[richard-is-still-alive · 9/10 · 10 July 2023]

It was certainly very, very emotional. Beautifully presented by the first-nation actors, who themselves must have been deeply moved by the storyline.

I was teary-eyed. I was seething and railing against the evil system and the police as they were portrayed. How could this have happened and possibly still is happening?

The series needs to be shown in every school to demonstrate the plight of less fortunate people (in many countries, I'm sure) and the wickedness of people who are supposed to care for and protect society. I'm sure that I will be moved by each heart-tugging scene in each episode.

Powerful

[johntaymac · 9/10 · 16 August 2023]

Thought Little Bird the best drama I have seen for ages. An horrific story that is beautifully acted and produced, with the inclusion of music from indigenous artists adding to the powerful reality. Coming from a country where the colonised indigenous people are still fighting for better health care, more educational opportunities and generally are less prosperous than the non-indigenous population, made this story more meaningful. The appalling treatment in Canada of the indigenous people is told here with balance and makes a real impact on one. I highly recommend this drama and praise the Producers, Directors and actors for their outstanding work.

Emotional Journey

[lbugladybugladybug · 10/10 · 30 June 2023]

This is a story that should be shown in High School. These poor communities having families ripped apart and their children kidnapped. I can't believe it took so long to be addressed by USA and Canada.

I'm a Canadian who was adopted through proper channels in the fifties as a baby. The First Nations children were forced to speak English and had to adapt to Christen ways. Even I know a lot of the story I still had many tissue moments and felt sick.

This was a fabulous series and I think it should be up for awards. The scenery, music and story were top notch . The clothing were on point for the time.

Deserving of every ten stars

[wisewebwoman · 10/10 · 17 July 2023]

An incredible series, told from the point of view of the oppressed rather than the other way around with a First Nations cast, direction and writing.

I was riveted from the first scene as it was so well written, cast and with marvelous cinematography.

I was in tears several times, following the story of a First Nations child, who, along with her siblings is taken to an orphanage, photographed for the newspapers as ready for adoption and then adopted by a Jewish family in Montreal.

In adulthood, she finally ascertains she is adopted and not Jewish and starts the long arduous task of tracking her birth parents.

My heart broke for her so many times as she hits so many barriers in her quest.

Nothing is Disneyfied, the acting is superb and the depiction of the elders is authentic in its execution.

I am surprised I didn't see any publicity about this as it deserves so much recognition and should be shown in colleges, schools and universities.

The narrow, bigoted focus of the cops and social workers was particularly harrowing. The grief of the parents almost unbearable.

10/10 from me.

Amazing Heartbreaking Series

[elisaa-63297 · 10/10 · 4 October 2023]

I binge watched this series last night. This is by far, the best series I've watched in a long time. I was fortunate enough to work up in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory for just under five years. This gave me the opportunity to work side by side with the First Nation people and learn all about their culture.

This series depicts the terrible actions against them. The actors were brilliant and following the story was really interesting and compelling viewing.

For many people who do not know about this shameful part of Canadian history, I ask that you please watch this series. I recognised a couple of the actors from other shows.

Amazing film making.

Heartbreaking and necessary. The harsh truth about Canada

[Luce1417 · 10/10 · 18 August 2023]

This one this close to home. This show portrays what generations of Canadians have kept it quiet. The show is so well done and the acting is so good I found myself crying at how bad my country treated their natives.

I've never seen any of the actors on the show before and they are all insanely good. The story makes it justice and it's hard to see things that happen in history but it needs to be done.

I would recommend anyone, US and Canada mainly to show that our country isn't as great as we think it is.

It's so heartbreaking and so important to make history into shows because we need to learn from our mistakes .

Important series for all Canadians

[heidikellis · 10/10 · 19 October 2023]

Heartbreaking series that was incredibly well done. There were many parts that were tough to watch but as a white member of a family who was given one of the sixty scoop children, it was important for me to not look away. I never got to meet my uncle as he followed a similar path to a main character in this story. This is a story that is still relevant today as there are more children being removed from their families than ever before. All Canadians should take this time to confront this dark side of Canadian history. I hope that this series touches the hearts of everyone who watches it as it did mind.

Heartbreaking

[yhkxgb · 10/10 · 16 August 2023]

Heartbreaking great show to show true light on how this happened, why this happened, and the affects on the children. I'm ashamed to be a white girl in Saskatchewan while this was happening in my area. The entire system is screwed up; to think the "system" knew what was best for these children at the time, yet turned every single person into a tail spin that couldn't be unrung; turns out to be completely the opposite. Such a sad sad story. But only one of the THOUSANDS taken. Please don't forget them, find them, cherish them, love them, and just do/be better humans. Everyone deserves to be with their family, grow happy, be happy, be loved, and live. Strong message.

Above Average

[coles_notes · 6/10 · 3 July 2023]

Created by Hannah Moscovitch and Jennifer Podemski, Little Bird follows the story of Bezhig (Darla Contois), a first nations child who was taken from her family during the 1960's "Sixties Scoop" and is now a young adult seeking to return home and re-find her roots. A very well produced drama, the series has a compelling story, is decently written and acted, although could be better, and is also of course quite sad. Filled with much trauma and hardships, often increasing as the series progresses, its fairly slow paced, though is shot beautifully. There's some truly good cinematography and blocking in scenes, I'm a fan of the longer, still camera, silhouette-style shots of the outdoors, as well as they way both directors positioned actors in rooms, it was nice and always interesting framing. Similar to Maid as a depressing yet important drama about those stuck in a system built specifically to work against them, at only 6 episodes, I wish we got to spend a bit more time with each character, things feel a bit rushed towards the end as it wraps up. With so much grief, if you like heavy dramas, especially one's with some modern historical significance this should be up there, but again I'll warn its a painful watch.

Sad and Infuriating

[despond-geo · 9/10 · 7 August 2023]

This story about Little Bird set at the background of what is called the Sixties Scoop. I didn't know what it was so I had to look it up. It is hard to believe this happened. Obviously, it is not a documentary but no one can deny this sort of thing happened. I found watching this to be so sad and infuriating that this has happened in a civilized society like Canada and America. Hard also to conceive that people would work for the government who advocates evil. We may think times have changed and we have improved but let's not fool ourselves. A lot of injustices still exists. Many people just turn the other way.

Great series. Cinematography was excellent.

Fate of stolen indigenous Canadian children adopted by white families.

[TxMike · 4 February 2024]

According to the introductory remarks this has been going on for many decades, in both the United States and in Canada. Government welfare workers encounter a family of indigenous people, most often living in severe poverty, and decide the children would be better off being adopted by a white family, to "Save them from a life of poverty". It is referred to as children being stolen, and I suppose that is accurate.

This six-part mini-series focuses on one such family. The introduction says it is a true story but the end credits has the usual disclaimer of fiction so I don't really know how true it is, but it certainly seems authentic to what did happen often.

Darla Contois, an Indigenous (Cree-Saulteaux) writer and actress from Misipawistik Cree Nation, Grand Rapids, Manitoba, Canada, plays the key role as the adult Bezhig Little Bird. She is adopted by a Jewish family, and raised Jewish, and named Esther Rosenblum.

Ther first episode begins when Bezhig and her siblings are small, maybe 6 to 8 years old. They are playing outside their rural home when a police car passes by, the young boy shoots a slingshot that hits and cracks the windshield of the car. The kids are taken away after a brief inspection of their home.

Much of the middle episodes deal with Esther growing up and receiving her education. Her Jewish adopted mother is fully her mother but Esther never gives up on her goal to reunite her original family. The ending episodes deal with Esther searching for her now adult siblings and her mother.

This is a very worthwhile series, hard to watch at times because of how unjust the whole thing was. I found it on DVD from my public library, a set of two discs.

Interesting docudrama that tilts too much towards stereotypes.

[ikanboy · 7/10 · 19 November 2023]

European dominated countries (U. S. A., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South America)) have a lot to answer for in their treatment of the indigenous population. The orphanages and Schools set up by Governments and Christian Churches were a hell hole for many.

This series tells some of that story by focusing on one family and it's treatment by the Canadian Government.

The story is gripping enough to allow some weaknesses in it's presentation. Kudos for telling it.

I found the Jewish family too stereotypical. Our protagonist breaks off her engagement, but it's never shown in any depth. The Social Workers come off as Automatons. The government is shown through them and it would have helped to have dug deeper.

The main focus, the trauma, was well developed, and I think a second season dealing with the legal/moral battles to eradicate such inhumane programs would be interesting.

One-sided coverage of history

[boriska_gn · 1/10 · 16 March 2024]

I really didn't like this series because of the one-sided coverage of history, the use of well-known cliches, as well as because of the translation into the emotional plane and the play on feelings. From the very beginning, the scriptwriters use the well-known tracing paper, where the ideal family of indigenous peoples is shown for quite a long time and carefully, we see ideal people, everyone smiles 24/7, wonderful relationships and a reigning idyll. All neat, satisfied, well-fed and joyful. And then, according to the laws of the genre, inhumane, cruel and immoral villains (social services and police) appear, take away children and beat up parents for no reason. Everything follows the templates of the genre. All this is not to show the real story, the real life of these people, and the real reasons of the time for which this was practiced, but simply to evoke emotions in the viewer - anger, indignation, etc., etc. The entire film is built on such manipulations, which I personally do not accept. Give me a real story, and I'll decide how and what I should feel.

Generational Trauma Shown in a Beautiful and Emotionally Charged Way

[hagedornhome-526-499435 · 10/10 · 17 November 2023]

This work is amazing. The depth of Esters story and that of her family is such a gift for everyone who doesn't know the truths that indigenous endured then and now. I know that it is based on truths which makes it more heartbreaking. There is no way that anyone else could have written such in depth storylines. I do not want to call it storytelling because to me that makes it seem fictional, it is not. Even if it was a loosely based "story" for this drama, the events were real for countless indigenous families. It is just beautiful. Thank you to all involved for sharing with us. I'm so grateful to have seen it.

Struggling

[smartinezmd · 10/10 · 19 December 2023]

Honestly, I am struggling with the first episode. Not because it is poorly done. Quite the opposite. Gut wrenching. Very well acted and scripted. Painful to watch due to its authenticity. I cannot imagine the suffering of Patricia Little Bird. I have read about this happening over a period of decades and as misguided and barbaric as it sounds, reading about it is one thing but watching this travesty performed is severely disturbing. Imagine it being played out countless times over decades. Ellyn Jade does a phenomenal job of acting. I have to remind myself that she is acting. She portrays both a stoic and sensitive woman whose children have been ripped from her home and care. And you will believe that this is truly happening to her. There is no separation between the actor and the woman she portrays. Her children - the young actors playing her children - are as natural and authentic as can be. Janet Kidder as the out-of-touch, unempathetic social worker is amazing. Kudos all around.

Moving without being preachy, for Americans as well as Canadians

[billsoccer · 9/10 · 18 November 2023]

I don't think I rated any of the episodes above 8, but the whole package deserves an almost perfect score of 9 for me. Shows the pain we inflicted upon the native residents of 'our' countries*, without shoving inherited guilt in our faces. Made by and with natives who experienced the events depicted.

* (I say 'we/our' as many of the comments feel this is just about Canada - when we Americans did worse in almost every respect). As an evangelical Christian, I understand and support missionary activity. However, this could have (and nowadays is) done without force. Natives have much more respect for the Earth and we could certainly learn from that, among other things.

Beautiful and Unreal

[j_p_bedard · 10/10 · 15 January 2024]

Beautiful and unreal at the same time. I am ashamed of what the white people have done to the aboriginal. I was born in Quebec and this was common business. Many children were briught to hospitals for care and were never seen again or were shipped out like a random number to a new family. What a shame. I am ashamed of my race.

Their lands, their ways of living all put aside mostly at our profit. This series is a must. And as a must it MUST also stop. We need to reconciliate with them in Canada and USA and also learn from them in many ways. They have much to teach us. Much of which will be lost through time. Please share this series as it is worth a 10/10.

The truth

[cheetahthecat-49400 · 10/10 · 3 November 2023]

Both canada and united states these children were stolen. Lies were told and some have never come home. I love the fact that almost all the actors are native. Such a heartbreaking story. Still happen today with the children being taken but some tribes do have more rights to the children than others do. My heart breaks for the one's in this show and what they find out. How there adoptive family did not tell them the truth or did not ask the truth. Most still live in extreme poverty most have a good life but some are still dealing with drugs or alcohol to deal with the stress of living on a reservation and how difficult life is.

I'd give it 11 if I could

[darlene-21 · 10/10 · 5 February 2024]

This story, although fictional, represents real events in Canadian history for which we should all be ashamed. The 60s scoop devastated families as much or more than residential schools.

I know about this history and have read about it, but seeing it play out in front of one's eyes is another story. It's gutwrenching and heartbreaking to watch, but it's important that we don't turn away but sit with the pain because watching it isn't nearly as painful as it would have been to live it.

Truth and reconciliation they say. Where is it? These kinds of stories are still happening today. Indigenous kids are still being taken by child protective services and put with foster families. I personally know of two kokums (Cree grandmothers) who would care for their grandkids but the system has hidden them and will not tell the family their location. Sound familiar?! This is 2024 not 1965, but nothing has changed.

Every Canadian needs to watch this series and to feel the pain. Then get mad enough to take action and be part of the solution.

Disappointing

[eb999 · 6/10 · 2 December 2023]

Having seen "The Lost Child", film that I thought was based on the same source, I expected something totally different. That was about a woman who lives an independent life - mainly in the military and is already married with two daughters before she learns about her Native American heritage. Also her husband is a blue collar guy who has worked on a ranch in his past and can fit in (eventually) with his wife's south western roots. So I was hoping for an extended version of the same story.

Instead, we get a poorly written story which is drawn out with long scenes of people driving or riding on buses accompanied by a lot of, to my mind, poor music. This story could have easily been told in a couple of episodes, but has been drawn out tediously into six.

Brilliant , important , real.

[amitbe-88702 · 10/10 · 6 January 2024]

Dedicated to all the criminals of this world who dare to take away lives & childhood of little kids.

Dedicated to all the judges who dare to kidnap young kids from their capable parents.

This creation is a simple & important masterpiece.

Go through the first two episodes . You will not stop then after.

Simple tale , great acting, the suspense is kept throughout.

I don't want to add anymore to this review but there is a minimum so I am forced to write. I don't want to add anything more to this review but I am forced due to the minimum required for writing . I don't want to add .........

Great creation!

Good series so far...

[LaxFan94 · 8/10 · 3 November 2023]

So far, I find this series to be realistic enough in terms of what the 60's Scoop kids went through when being forced to live in the death camps cleverly disguised as "residential schools".

But that one scene where those 2 kids got picked up by the cops and sent to the so-called schools just because they inadvertently broke a cop car's window with a slingshot, I don't think anything like that happened in real life. The Indian agents and police were usually sent to the kids' homes to pick them up.

In another scene, the female child welfare agent along with her assistant literally barged into the Native family's home with the help of the police, unfortunately that was commonplace. But what really burned me up was when even after answering all of the agent's questions in the most honest and truthful way, the agent still had the nerve to have the police take them away from their home! The mother told the agent that the kids were well-fed, clothed etc. But none of that mattered to the agent.

Anyway, I think this series earns an 8 out of 10 in my books.

Significant History

[MikeyB1793 · 9/10 · 17 March 2024]

It is high time that Canadians be exposed to this part of their history. The ignorance and extreme hostility displayed by the Canadian government towards First Nations people is not only appalling, but criminal.

In this film, we see government officials (police) virtually kidnap and remove children from their parents in the province of Saskatchewan, and give them to government adoption agencies

One fortunately had a decent upbringing in Montreal - and she wants to come in contact (like anyone would) with her ancestral roots in Saskatchewan. We follow her journey there as she unravels the puzzle of what happened to her siblings and parents. It's an emotional and cathartic experience.