Losing Isaiah
Who Decides What Makes A Mother?
Jessica Lange and Halle Barry give performances of uncommon poignancy and depth in this film that's "as powerful, provocative and moving a drama as you're likely to see..." (Paul Wunder, WBAI Radio). Lange, following up on her Oscar winning Blue Sky with another stunning characterization, plays an adoptive mother who gives an abandoned child a new chance at life. Berry, in a remarkable portrayal heralded as her dramatic breakthrough, is the birth mother who cleans up her life and sets out to reclaim the child Oscar-nominee Samuel L. Jackson (Pulp Fiction) portrays her firebrand attorney.
Member Reviews
Controversial, and gripping with reality. - movie_goer
"What an incredible performance from Halle Berry and Jessica Lange."
It began to unravel itself by guiding us on a two sided roller coaster, After Berry made the worst mistake a parent could do... leave a child in a trash can during the coldest nights of winter. Left almost for dead, lange who works at the Hospital falls for the abandon child and plans to adopt. What appears to good to be true is just that. Berry under false assumption finds out her son is alive desides to fight for what's her's. Creating a tornado of fury and controversy. The tension begins to boil over, an argument about white people rearing colour childern, verse's Lange trying to prove colour is not an abstucal or a factor when you love a child and can offer stablility. The Director was brilliant by avoiding 1 sided opinion giving the audience a choice to chose what they believe is right.Of it's time. - cathyottawa
But even for 1995, I found the legal issues and courtroom scenes in this film to be pretty far fetched.
A crack addict abandons her baby in a garbage pile, where it of coarse almost dies. Years later, the addict (Halle Berry) has kicked the drug habit, and has a steady job. She finds out her son is alive (she assumed he was dead), and decides she wants custody.
She'd be laughed out of court, right? Perhaps even charged with abuse or attempted murder for abandoning him all those years ago? Not in this movie, because she's black, and the adoptive mother is white, and everyone knows a white woman can't raise a black child .... huh?
Anyone who watches Law and Order will find the courtroom scenes laughable.
It's all too over the top, and too focused on race, and has a lame "TV movie of the week" feel to it.
Member Reviews
Read All...
Controversial, and gripping with reality. - movie_goer
"What an incredible performance from Halle Berry and Jessica Lange."
It began to unravel itself by guiding us on a two sided roller coaster, After Berry made the worst mistake a parent could do... leave a child in a trash can during the coldest nights ...Of it's time. - cathyottawa
But even for 1995, I found the legal issues and courtroom scenes in this film to be pretty far fetched.
A crack addict abandons her baby in a garbage pile, where it of coarse almost dies. Years later, the addict (Halle Berry) has kicked the drug habit, ...