Little Bird review
It’s impossible not be be enraged by this story of Indigenous children who were taken from their families. This heartbreaking show has been a hit in Canada – and it would be a crime for the rest of the world to miss it
TL;DR
- Little Bird dramatizes the Sixties Scoop, a period when approximately 20,000 First Nations children were forcibly removed from their families in Canada.
- The series interweaves two timelines: 1968 in Saskatchewan and 1985 in Montreal, tracking the rupture of one family and the subsequent decades-long reckoning.
- The protagonist, Esther Rosenblum, discovers her birth name, Bezhig Little Bird, and searches for her birth family after being raised in a non-Indigenous household.
- Flashbacks reveal the traumatic events of 1968, including the forceful apprehension of Indigenous children by authorities and the death of Bezhig's father.
- The series is praised for giving voice to Indigenous experiences, its restrained portrayal of injustice, and Darla Contois's performance as Bezhig.
- It aims to humanize the experiences of those affected by the Sixties Scoop, despite a few minor lapses into cliche and an occasional overwrought score.
- Little Bird won 13 awards at the Canadian Screen Awards, including for Darla Contois.