Story
In 1973 Brenda was just a baby when she and her 6 older siblings were forcibly taken from their parents by welfare authorities. Devastated, Brenda’s loving and devoted parents set out to do everything in their power to get their children back. Meanwhile, Connie (Susie Collins and Lucy Rawley) and Mac Ockers (Darcy Crouch), who had 2 small children of their own, thought they were helping a child in need and opened their home and their hearts to Brenda, whom they hoped to adopt.
Five years later, as they pushed forward with the adoption application, they learned that the little girl they had grown to love deeply was going back to her biological family. Feeling powerless and rejected, Brenda re-joined her biological family and life went on, but something was always missing.
It wasn’t until Brenda found the courage to go searching for the truth about her past and begin opening doors that were hurtful and painful, that she was able to reunite with the family she barely remembered and bring healing to those devastated by racism, lies and bureaucracy.
Brenda is now an activist, an inspiration, and a woman incredibly blessed to have been loved deeply by 2 families who, though once torn apart, have now been brought back together. The Last Daughter is her story.
Themes
The Stolen Generation; the White Australia Policy; racism; children being separated from parents; deceitfulness and dishonesty
Violence
There is no violence in The Last Daughter.
Sexual references
There are no sexual references in The Last Daughter.
Alcohol, drugs and other substances
The Last Daughter has some substance use. For example, Brenda’s white family is told that Brenda’s father is an alcoholic. Although this turns out to be something fabricated by an agency looking for excuses to remove aboriginal children from their home, alcoholism is discussed.
Nudity and sexual activity
There’s no nudity and sexual activity in The Last Daughter.
Product placement
The Last Daughter has some product placement. For example, Cabo Ocean Kayaks.
Coarse language
There’s no coarse language in The Last Daughter.
Ideas to discuss with your children
The Last Daughter is a documentary that combines re-enactments of the past with interviews of people in the present. It’s heartbreaking yet matter of fact, and very well presented. The themes and content of The Last Daughter make it best suited to older, more mature audiences.
The main message from this movie is that terrible things happened to countless families and the pain and suffering still lingers through multiple generations, but there are ways to find freedom from the trauma and heartbreak, to break the chains of the past and build a better future based on healing and hope.
Values in this movie that you could reinforce with your children are resilience, courage, truth, love, determination and persistence.
The Last Daughter could also give you the chance to talk with your children about things like:
- the importance of learning from past mistakes, to make sure that they don’t happen again.
- the importance of holding ourselves accountable when we witness injustice and speaking out against it.
- the importance of sharing stories, of having hard conversations and of listening to those who need to be heard.