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Bones of Crows

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2022 Canadian drama film
Bones of Crows
Film poster
Directed byMarie Clements
Written byMarie Clements
Produced byMarie Clements
Trish Dolman
Sam Grana
Christine Haebler
StarringGrace Dove
CinematographyVince Arvidson
Edited byMaxime Lahaie
Music byWayne Lavallee
Jesse Zubot
Production
companies		Ayasew Ooskana Pictures
Marie Clements Media
Screen Siren Pictures
Grana Productions
Distributed byElevation Pictures
Release date
  • September 10, 2022 (2022-09-10) (TIFF)
Running time127 minutes
CountryCanada
LanguagesEnglish
Cree
ʔayʔajuθəm
Italian
French

Bones of Crows is a 2022 Canadian drama film, written, produced, and directed by Marie Clements. The film stars Grace Dove as Aline Spears, a Cree woman who survives the Indian residential school system to become a code talker for the Canadian Air Force during World War II.

The film's cast also includes Summer Testawich and Carla-Rae as Aline Spears in childhood and older age, as well as Phillip Lewitski, Rémy Girard, Karine Vanasse, Michelle Thrush, Glen Gould, Gail Maurice, Cara Gee, Joshua Odjick, Jonathan Whitesell, Jules Arita Koostachin and Alanis Obomsawin in supporting roles.

The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 10, 2022, before going into commercial release on June 2, 2023.

Television series

In 2021, CBC Television announced a five-hour limited series, which delves more deeply into Spears' extended family history over 100 years.

The television version premiered on September 20, 2023, on both CBC and APTN, with a Cree language version also airing on APTN beginning September 25.

Production

The film was shot partially at the Kamloops Indian Residential School. Although the revelation of 215 unmarked gravesites at the school took place just one week before shooting was to start, the Tkʼemlúps te Secwépemc nation encouraged production to proceed because of the importance of getting residential school stories publicized and told.

Cast

Reception

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 95% of 19 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.8/10.

Aparita Bhandari of The Globe and Mail wrote that "Although it’s a difficult film to watch, the loving way in which it depicts Indigenous families and their traditions, including a simple family dinner, offers a perspective often missing from news stories. The historical span from the late 1800s to present day also gives the film heft; the flashbacks used to reflect how memories carry intergenerational trauma are a poignant device. It’s a gift to watch the largely Indigenous cast bring to life a story that many of them have a personal connection to."

For Original Cin, Kim Hughes wrote that "Clements’ searing film — notably and beautifully shot on traditional territories and with its unanimously strong performances abetted by a brilliant cameo by filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin — is unsparing, as perhaps it must be. The horrors of residential schools should be perceived through a lens of revulsion and deep regret. Still, it is very hard to watch children being stomped on, tortured, molested, dying, and then to watch their adult selves funneling all that trauma into behaviour guaranteed to further compound their suffering and disenfranchisement. Equal parts indictment and historical score-setter, Bones of Crows is the film we deserve, its message of personal and spiritual resilience unmistakable. But enter knowing it is bleak beyond the most chilling slasher flick. Because it’s true."

Awards

The film received five Canadian Screen Award nominations at the 11th Canadian Screen Awards in 2023, for Best Original Screenplay (Clements), Best Original Song (Clements, Wayne Lavallee and Jesse Zubot for "You Are My Bones"), Best Makeup (Darci Jackson and Elizabeth McLeod), Best Hair (Charlene Dunn) and Best Visual Effects (Eric Gambini, Sarah Krusch Flanagan, Louis Mackall, Virginie Strub, Andrew Joe, Gabriel Chiang and Linus Burghardt).

References

  1. "Local actor Grace Dove stars in new psychological drama". Prince George Citizen, October 27, 2021.
  2. Pat Mullen, "TIFF Announces Canadian Films for 2022 Festival". That Shelf, August 10, 2022.
  3. Gail Johnson, "Bones of Crows launches in movie theatres across Canada, starting June 2". STir, May 31, 2023.
  4. "CBC/RADIO CANADA, APTN AND AYASEW OOSKANA PICTURES ANNOUNCE CASTING AND START OF PRODUCTION ON MARIE CLEMENTS’ BONES OF CROWS". TV, eh?, October 27, 2021.
  5. Greg David, "CBC sets fall 2023 streaming and broadcast premiere dates for new and returning original series on CBC Gem and CBC Television". TV, eh?, August 24, 2023.
  6. Greg David, "Changing leaves, inspiring stories: APTN unveils fall programming with Indigenous resilience at its core". TV, eh?, August 30, 2023.
  7. Rachel Ho, "Marie Clements Brings the Truth of Residential Schools to the Big Screen". Exclaim!, May 31, 2023.
  8. "Bones of Crows". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved May 3, 2024.
  9. Aparita Bhandari, "Marie Clements won’t let Canada forget its painful past with sweeping epic Bones of Crows". The Globe and Mail, May 31, 2023
  10. Kim Hughes, "Bones of Crows: Fact-Based Drama Depicts the Horrors of Residential Schools". Original Cin, June 1, 2023.
  11. "The 2023 Canadian Screen Award Nominees". Windsor International Film Festival, February 22, 2023.

External links

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