Hallmark Hall of Fame: The Lost Child (#50.1)

The lost child

source: Hallmark Hall of Fame: The Lost Child (#50.1)

At the end of the film there is a statement that it is based on true story, but some things were changed. I have read all the other comments here and I can agree with much of the criticism. The lead actress does not look like a Navajo. Why could they not cast a Native American woman for this part? There are other women in the cast who are Native American and they were all good actresses. I suspect it was typical Hollywood crap ... "no one will want to see it unless it has a lead actress who is already known." The men who control the money always want to make changes. Film making is a business, after all. Artistic integrity and factual honesty are usually sacrificed. That being said, this is still a good story about an (illegally) adopted child seeking her birth parents. Since it is based on a true story (see one of the other comments for the name of the book) I suggest that anyone who wants a better and more honest version of the story should read the book. That's what I am going to do.

The beginning moved along slowly, until as the revelations unfolded, her world switched over to another culture almost entirely

The lead actress is a good actress but no way does she look Navajo at all! They should of had a Navajo play the part of her. Why didn't they hire a native to play this part? This could have been cast better. This was filmed at the base of the Superstition Mountains. Not on the Navajo reservation. Doesn't even look like the Navajo reservation at all. There are so many houses in this area now they wouldn't be able to film it there. But I guess only people from Arizona would even know this. Then when she gets a job at a store that is in Superior Arizona The school is also in Superior really far from the Navajo reservation!

I do not like how Navajos we're depicted looks like it was filmed over by phx also seemed very truck stop version of native depiction. The woman who wrote the book actually did move to the NN cause we went to school with her daughter . Some kids treated her bad but over all I think everyone was very welcoming , I hear they even got her into a tribal home which is hard even for enrolled tribal members I remember we had an assembly and the principal explained attempts at genocide and the stealing of Native American babies at birth and then adopting them out . Also how the daughter was going to come to our school and we needed to be nice. A boy did beat her up on the bus but he was arrested and expelled. Nobody got away with mistreatment. So I disagree with the quality of this movie and the depiction of actual events and non native actress taking lead roles is annoying. I genuinely would like to know how this family is doing and I wish the genuine attention to native culture was there seems like she moved to the reservation to gather book material and left.

The Hallmark Hall of Fame movie about the Navajo Girl brought up Jewish could have been made better. First of all the uniform of the sister who is supposed to be Navajo Police officer was wearing a security guard uniform. The Navajo Nation Police uniform is Beige/khaki. The Cacti is not indigenous to the Navajo Natoin... Does not grow more than 20 miles north of PHX. NON NAVAJO ACTORS PLAYING PARTS OF NAVAJOS (old folx) MOST NAVAJOS OVER AGE OF 40 SPEAK NAVAJO FLUENTLY!!

Such conflict within my soul! Oh the torment! On one hand, the acting in this TV movie is just excellent. Mercedes Ruehl, the lead, is wonderful as Rebecca, as is her husband (Jamey Sheridan), the ever good-lookin Ned Romero as her dad, and Julia McIlvaine as her eldest daughter. So that makes it hard for me to say that the casting ruined the movie. I simply could *not* get past the fact that Ruehl is supposed to be a full-blood Dine. I was so confused when I realized that neither her mom nor dad was supposed to be white--I assumed the character was half-white. Maybe possibly sorta kinda (given the unpredictability of genetics) Ruehl could pass as half-Dine, but even that's pushing it. She isn't Native at all, although she could certainly 'pass' as a quarter. But not Navajo! (For that matter, a bunch of the Indian actors don't look Navajo at all, but I can get past that because it's so normal (Irene Bedard has played a Navajo role a zillion times, but even she and the other sisters, including the awesome Tamara Podemski, look nothing alike). Even worse, the girl who plays the young Rebecca looks so white that it's jarring to see her in a shot with her birth mother, all while knowing that her dad is supposed to be Ned Romero (who does look Navajo in his old age). I would also complain about casting Julia McIlvaine as her elder daughter, who clearly isn't half Dine but rather could've stepped right off the Nina, the Pinta, or the Santa Maria (the younger daughter could presumably have just gotten 80% recessive genes, but she wasn't very convincing either). But this is based on a true story, and indeed, I do know mixed-race families where someone impossibly comes out with blondish hair (like my cousin)...and then there are all those 1/128 blonde Cherokees, of course. But STILL! So hard to get past. And, as great as Mercedes Ruehl was, there are plenty of excellent Native actresses her age who could've been casted instead. Why not Sheila Tousey? She could have totally pulled off this character (and is light-skinned enough to be convincingly racially ambiguous in her prior life). Enough complaining, but I hate that I can't put this on my Good Indian Movies list (see my Listmania) because of this glaring problem. Tragic! Indeed! On the other hand, because this is based on a true story, there's a great deal of non-Hollywood realism here that I really appreciated. Aside from the totally cheesy Hallmark soundtrack and Wise Indian Elder lines they made Tantoo Cardinal say, the relationships and family dynamics played out with such genuineness, and that's what really makes you care about the story. The cultural dissonance played out really effectively, too, and had enough tension to make you feel it and invest in the characters more. (Although--I felt that some of that dissonance was presented in too much of a one-sided way and could make white viewers see Navajo culture in a negative light.) I'm torn (oh woe!) on the last positive, too...I thought they presented a really broad sense of life on that particular rez from the average school to the community center, but there were also times when I also felt they were kinda making things seem more 'exotic' than they really are. I mean, where were the schoolkids listening to rap? Where was the bingo? But as a whole, I thought the story was engaging and well told. I'm interested in checking out the book now.

Fantasic movie!!for native and non native people.a must see movie!! Lot of triditional Music and Ceremonies. Love all actorsand Actresses.well made movie!!

Having been adopted,and had a daughter given up for adoption,and going through the adoption process to try an adopt,and finding my bio-sisters in 1997. The movie doesn't show the real reactions of the people around you when this happens.The reactions by those in the movie seemed "sugar coated",not every one in real life are not always that supportive as they were in the movie.The story was well written,and acted. Mercedes Reul,and Jamie Sheriden did their parts well.The better movie to see how different members of a family would react would be "Secrets & Lies". It's along the same lines,but more conflict is involved than this.I enjoyed both movies. I have a copy of this on VHS.I am going to find it on DVD.I give this a 10.