Product Details

• Actors: Mercedes Ruehl, Cristine Rose, Jamey Sheridan, Irene Bedard, Dinah Manoff
• Directors: Karen Arthur
• Writers: Claire Safran, Sally Robinson, Yvette Melanson
• Producers: Brent Shields, Richard Welsh, Robert Bennett Steinhauer
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rating: Unrated
• Studio: Lions Gate
• DVD Release Date: May 21, 2002
• Run Time: 94 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0000639G4
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #68,548 in Movies & TV (See Bestsellers in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "The Lost Child" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
As a young child, Rebecca Hoffman (played by Academy Award® winner Mercedes Ruehl) was raised by a loving and caring family, knowing she was adopted. Following her parents' deaths, Rebecca begins a search for her natural family. She is contacted by a Navajo woman looking for her own siblings, who were stolen from her mother at birth. As the two women talk, they suddenly realize they are sisters, and that Becks has found her birth family! Excitedly, Rebecca decides to take her children to meet her family on the reservation. They are welcomed with open arms, and begin learning the language and traditions of their rich ancestry. Her husband (Jamey Sheridan), however, is branded an outsider and has difficulty becoming accepted as part of the Navajo community. As the differences between the two cultures come to the surface, the family discovers a commitment to each other that runs deeper than circumstances and a heritage that captivates their hearts.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars COMING HOME, June 20, 2002

By	Bonita L. Davis (Decatur, Georgia) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

This review is from: The Lost Child [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Adopted by a middle aged Jewish couple and doted on by her mother young Rebecca Hoffman leads a conventional life. Then her mother dies and her father remarries. In his new marriage there is no room for Rebecca. She is one to be tolerated. She no longer has a home. Years later Rebecca searches for her birth parents and comes to the realization that she is not white nor Jewish. Rebecca is Navajo.

Lost Child is a film based on the the autobiography, Looking For Lost Bird, by Yvette Melanson. In this picture we see the life of a child stolen from her birth parents and made to assume a new identity. Her adoptive father's reluctance to have her, her feeling of isolation and her quest to find her identity is both moving and tragic as we see a young woman so far from her home.

Mercedes Ruehl plays a sensitive and savy Rebecca who tries so hard to be accepted by her adoptive father. Her discovery of her Navajo roots gives her comfort and a sense of completion. Yet, she too and her family undergo some heartaches and challenges as she returns home. This movie shows the hope of a mother seeking a reunion of her children. We witness the reintergration of a woman back to her heritage. We also see the ugly side of cultural prejudice as her daughters attempt to fit in with their new family and culture.

This is an enjoyable film that is a sanitized version of the book. Everyone in the picture is so good, so noble to the point of being unbelievable. Of course everything works itself out and the family lives happily ever after. If only life could be that simple. Inspite of that Lost Child is well worth your seeing as you get a glimpse into another culture.

16 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Heart Warming, January 4, 2003

By	C Ryan (Michigan United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Lost Child [VHS] (VHS Tape)

This is a very heart warming movie about coming home. It reinforces the strong family bonds even through years of separation. It explores the need to stand up against unhealthy traditions in a changing world, as well as, traditions which can help define who we are in an ever changing world.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars We have so much to learn about who we are, September 7, 2007

By	Cathleen M. Walker "geminiwalker" (Massachusetts) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

All of my favorite Native American actors are in this movie! I love this fairly modern Native American tradition of using Hollywood to speak their truth about who they are, where they have come from, and where they are going - to break stereotypes and honor their roots.

This movie is about a woman who is adopted by a woman who obviously desperately needed a child to love - but who may have gone to desperate lengths to get one. This movie tells the story about a rather painful American tradition of stealing Native American children - not just this one, but many, many others - in order to break the Spirit of the Native American people. Most of the other reviewers on Amazon.com seem to have missed this point, a point that is carefully and poignantly made.

In addition to taking Native American children from their tribes, cutting their hair, forbidding them to speak their native language and making their religion illegal (freedom of religion, anyone?); factoids that are NOT mentioned in this movie, who knew that children were actually stolen from Native American families (in "modern" times) for profit, and for no other real motive than the ongoing genocide of the Native American people?

I wasn't sure how Mercedes Ruehl would do in this role. I didn't think she was Native American herself - she's not. Turns out, she is Cuban American. But I am a fan, from The Fisher King to GIA to Indictment: The McMartin Trial (although I didn't like the movie, I DID like the character she played in it); I like Mercedes Ruehl. She carries the role with style, humility, and grace. She is a well-known actor, and this often gives a Native American story more "box office" cache. So be it.

This is a great movie, highly recommended. We have so much to learn, as Americans, about who we are.


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