Last Daughter, The

image for Last Daughter, The

Short takes

Not suitable under 9; parental guidance to 11 (themes)

Age
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
classification logo

This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for Last Daughter, The
  • a review of Last Daughter, The completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 22 June 2023.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 9 Not suitable due to themes.
Children aged 9–11 Parental guidance recommended due to themes.
Children aged 12 and over Ok for this age group.

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.

Name of movie: Last Daughter, The
Classification: PG
Consumer advice lines: Mild themes
Length: 87 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

Brenda (Jayda Williams) has always had dreams of houses, of doorways and hallways, and of hiding places. She grew up with her Aboriginal family but sometimes didn’t feel that she belonged. She had vague memories of a little white sister and a strong bond of love but, like so many before her, she tucked her confusing memories away and tried to get on with her life. Yet this powerful connection would not remain hidden, it pulled her back, it drove her to tell her story, to ask questions and to seek answers. The abhorrent policy of stealing Aboriginal children and placing them with white families officially came to an end in 1969. Or did it? In 1973, Brenda, who was just a baby, and her 6 older siblings were forcibly taken from their parents by welfare authorities. 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 two small children of their own and thought they were helping a child in need, 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 so deeply would never be their own. Brenda was going back to her biological family and there was nothing they could do. Feeling powerless and rejected, Brenda re-joined her family and life went on but something was always missing. It wasn’t until Brenda found the courage to share her story and begin opening doors that were hurtful and painful, that led her to where she is now. She is an activist, an inspiration to countless others and a woman incredibly blessed to have been loved so deeply by two families who, though once torn apart, have now been brought back together. This film shares Brenda’s journey to reunite with the family she barely remembered and bring healing to the family devastated by racism, lies and bureaucracy.

Themesinfo

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

The Stolen Generation; The White Australia Policy; Racism; Children being separated from parents; Deceitfulness and dishonesty.

Use of violenceinfo

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

  • None noted.

Material that may scare or disturb children

Under fiveinfo

Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.

  • None noted.

Aged five to eightinfo

Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

There are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged five to eight, including the following:

  • There are repeated flashbacks and scenes of Brenda and her siblings being taken from their parents. The scenes and poignant and sad but there is also an air of resignation, along with a sense of powerlessness. There was no screaming or crying or fighting back. The children are simply taken so, while the scenes themselves are not scary, they are likely to be confusing to some children and could be distressing to some viewers.

Aged eight to thirteeninfo

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.

  • Nothing further noted.

Product placement

The following products are displayed or used in this movie:

  • Cabo Ocean Kayaks.

Sexual references

  • None noted.

Nudity and sexual activity

  • None noted.

Use of substances

There is some use of substances in this movie, including:

  • Brenda’s white family is told that Brenda’s father is an alcoholic, so they raise questions around his supposed alcoholism. This turns out to be something fabricated by an agency looking for excuses to remove aboriginal children from their home.

Coarse language

  • None noted.

In a nutshell

The Last Daughter is a documentary using actors to infuse snippets of the past with actual interviews of people in the present. It is heartbreaking, yet matter of fact, and very well presented. The film may lack interest for some children, but it is done in a gentle enough way that that younger viewers could watch even though it is aimed at older, more mature audiences.

The main messages from this movie are that terrible things happened to countless families and that this pain and suffering lingers through multiple generations but that there are ways to find freedom from the trauma and heartbreak, to break the chains of the past and build a better future, a future based on healing and hope.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

  • Resilience
  • Courage
  • Truth
  • Love
  • Determination and persistence.

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children the importance of learning from past mistakes to ensure 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.