History Film / BonesOfCrows

* CrazyJealousGuy: Adam becomes abusive towards Aline on an occasion when she doesn't seem as sexually available as he'd like. He grabs her by the chin and asks her how many men she had before meeting him. Aline has trouble saying anything, but it's obvious she is bottling something up which suggests a NoodleIncident. It becomes a ResolvedNoodleIncident when it's revealted that [[spoiler: Father Miller sexually abused her when she was still a child in the residential school]].

* ShellShockedVeteran: Fighting in World War 2 has left Adam with a [[FacialHorror badly scarred face]], and having lost AnArmAndALeg, literally. He gets by with a wooden arm, a wooden leg, and a crutch for support. He's haunted by the memories of the war, including the [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything discovery of the concentration camp]] that [[CloseToHome reminded him of his own experiences in the residential school]]. He lost his Indian Act status after fighting in the war, but never received a veteran's status or pension or fighting in the war like white veterans did. The only thanks he receives is a one time $300 payout, while he has no job prospects on account of his physical disabilities and being an Indian who will be discriminated against constantly.

* BitchInSheepsClothing: Father Miller among all the clergy is the most visibly supportive of the Indigenous children, as shown when he speaks out against Father Jacobs' deliberate starving of the children of the school into malnutrition as inhumane. [[spoiler: But Aline during her trip to the Vatican publicly reveals that he [[PedophilePriest sexually abused her]] when she was a student in the school.]]

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Adam, along with numerous British and Canadian soldiers, uncovers a concentration camp in the Netherlands. He's hit with a massive HeroicBSoD as the horror of the conditions sinks in, and a small Jewish child tries to comfort him. Both Adam and the audience can easily note the very real similarities between the Holocaust and the residential schools. Both pursued genocidal objectives. While some Canadian authorities were not explicitly about outright murdering Indigenous peoples into extinction and were content to forcibly force Indigenous children to become white on the inside (i.e. cultural genocide), other Canadian authorities were frustrated that the "Indian problem" persisted in that Indigenous peoples were apparently refusing to die off in spite of the horrific conditions imposed on them. Both policies were motivated by a dominant society trying to rid itself of a "problem" on account of a perceived inferior race in their midst. And it's not an exaggeration to say that the conditions in both the concentration camps and the residential schools were similarly horrific. And indeed, it is pointed out in various points in the film that many Indigenous children died for numerous reasons (physically killed, starved, disease, exposure while running away) and were left in unmarked graves near the schools.

* PatchedTogetherFromTheHeadlines: The film tackles not only the physical and sexual abuse that took place in the residential schools themselves, but many other social problems that have afflicted Indigenous peoples over the years and have received extensive media attention. Examples include but are not limited to: the intergenerational trauma that spreads from generation to generation in Indigenous communities and families, Indigenous over-incarceration, Indigenous over-representation in child welfare apprehensions, Indigenous suicides, Canadian state efforts to minimize its own expenses with respect to Indigenous social problems, Indigenous war veterans losing their Indian Act status but not gaining any recognition or benefits for fighting on Canada's behalf during World War 2, and the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Adam, along with numerous British and Canadian soldiers, uncovers a concentration camp in the Netherlands. He's hit with a massive HeroicBSoD as the horror of the conditions sinks in, and a small Jewish children tries to comfort him. Both Adam and the audience can easily note the very real similarities between the Holocaust and the residential schools. Both pursued genocidal objectives. While some Canadian authorities were not explicitly about outright murdering Indigenous peoples into extinction, other Canadian authorities were frustrated that the "Indian problem" persisted in that Indigenous peoples were apparently refusing to die off in spite of the horrific conditions imposed on them. Both policies were motivated by a dominant society trying to rid itself of a perceived inferior and problematic race in their midst. And it's not an exaggeration to say that the conditions in both the concentration camps and the residential schools were similarly horrific.

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Adam, along with numerous British and Canadian soldiers, uncovers a concentration camp in the Netherlands. He's hit with a massive HeroidBSoD as the horror of the conditions sinks in, and a small Jewish children tries to comfort him. Both Adam and the audience can easily note the very real similarities between the Holocaust and the residential schools. Both pursued genocidal objectives. While some Canadian authorities were not explicitly about outright murdering Indigenous peoples into extinction, other Canadian authorities were frustrated that the "Indian problem" persisted in that Indigenous peoples were apparently refusing to die off in spite of the horrific conditions imposed on them. Both policies were motivated by a dominant society trying to rid itself of a perceived inferior and problematic race in their midst. And it's not an exaggeration to say that the conditions in both the concentration camps and the residential schools were similarly horrific.

* ItsAllAboutMe: Father Jacobs values one thing above all else, his own glory and legacy should he prove that the residential school he runs proves a success in "civilizing" "savage" Indigenous children. Even his rare PetTheDog moments with Indigenous children, such as when he gives Sister Ruth a BitchSlap for [[{{Fingore}} stomping on Aline's hand]], only tend to come out when that glory and legacy is in some way threatened.

* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Almost any significant non-Indigenous charater that Aline comes across qualifies, whether it's Sister Ruth, Father Jacobs, Father Miller, any of the other clergy, or the RCMP officers who force her parents to surrender her to the residential school, the family whose father she nurses. Racial slurs, racist double standards, and discriminatory treatment plague her steps and the steps of everyone she loves. Even the white character who treats her the best, the military officer who recruits her into the code speaking program, lets on to viewing women as given to gossip who can't be trusted with a secret unless they're firmly told to keep their mouths shout as a military order.

* SinisterMinister: Father Jacobs is heavily invested in the success of the residential schools in turning Indigenous children from "savages" into something resembling civilized human being in the eyes of mainstream Canadian society at the time. He's convinced that it will [[ItsAllAboutMe elevate his own status and legacy in the eyes of not just the Catholic church but larger Canadian society as well.]]

* YouAreACreditToYourRace: Alina, aside from [[spoiler: her sexual abuse by Father Miller]], is treated relatively better then the other Indigenous children in her school. The reason is that she is talented as a pianist, and thus both Father Jacobs and Father Miller hope she will prove that the residential school is a success in "civilizing" Indigenous children.

* BitchInSheepsClothing: Father Miller among all the clergy is the most visibly supportive of the Indigenous children, as shown when he speaks out against Father Jacobs' deliberate starving of the children of the school into malnutrition as inhumane. [[spoiler: But Aline during her trip to the Vatican publicly reveals that he [[PedophilePriest sexually abused her when she was a student in the school.]]

* BitchInSheepsClothing: Father Miller among all the clergy is the most visibly supportive of the Indigenous children, as shown when he speaks out against Father Jacobs' deliberate starving of the children of the school into malnutrition as inhumane. [[spoiler:But Aline during her trip to the Vatican publicly reveals that he [[PedophilePriest sexually abused her when she was a student in the school.]]

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.[1]

The film premiered at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival on September 10, 2022,[2] before going into commercial release on June 2, 2023.[3]

* SinisterMinister: Father Jacobs is heavily invested in the success of the residential schools in turning Indigenous children from "savages" into something resembling civilized human being in the eyes of mainstream Canadian society at the time. He's convinced that it will [[ItsAllAboutMe elevate his own status and legacy in the eyes of not just the Catholic church but larger Canadian society as well.]]

* AnachronisticOrder: The film jumps back and forth between different times in Aline's life.

It will be followed in 2023 by a five-hour CBC Television limited series, which delves more deeply into Spears' extended family history over 100 years.