Two brothers ,one sister , a family unit who cannot find their place in a society hard on the poor ; the boys live hand to mouth , and dream to fly away to Canada , for them the promised land.The girl is arrested after a theft in a graveyard ; their brothers go out of their way to get her out of the jam ;the elder sells his motorcycle ,the only thing he owns ,to pay a lawyer ;but justice is hard on the poor ;whereas a rich kid would have effortlessly released on parole , the young magistrate who defends the prisoner does not really care about her and it's almost a travesty of a trial ;she is sent to a reformatory ....This place is not a caricature ;the nuns who run it are not tyrants and do their best to put their inmates back on the straight and narrow. But what can they do against a girl who dreams to fly away to Canada ,a country which represents the freedom she longs for ?Some of the scenes are silent , because looks and smiles mean more than words ; Philippe Léotard is ideally cast as the big brother ,his hangdog looks work wonders; ditto for his partners, Albert Dray as the half-wit sibling ,whose final letter speak volumes about the situation of marginalized people ;and Zoe Chauveau as little sis , a bird in a cage who longs for open air."l'Ombre des châteaux " ( the shadow of the castles") is the other side of France of the seventies Three people who are beyond the working class' fight because they do not even belong to a class ; they are not even aware of their social condition ; when they help their sibling escape the reform school , one knows from the start that it will lead them nowhere ,Canada is make believe .In spite of spectacular scenes which were not really necessary (the bikers attacking the car) ,Daniel Duval made a movie which goes straight to the heart .