In a Child's Name

This movie epitomizes two telefilm genres (the Sunday Night Tearjerker and the Lifetime Movie) but towers above most examples of both. It aired as a two-parter; the first half told the story of a woman's murder by her husband and his eventual arrest for the crime, while the second concerned the custody battle over the couple's son between her sister (Bertinelli) and his parents (Huddleston and Fletcher).

The first half retains an admirable level of tension throughout, though the crime isn't ever really a mystery. Thankfully, the actual crime is not shown, though the filmmakers found a better way to convey its brutality: the final shot of the first half of the show is one of the most shocking sights I've ever seen on television.

The custody battle in the second part is less suspenseful but raises several interesting questions. The cultural bias by the killer's parents against the evil, urban, ethnic (Italian) family of the victim had some resonance in their son's marriage. Not to overgeneralize, but a friend of mine was married to a man from rural Indiana and his family was a LOT like the people in this film. The filmmakers clearly sided with wife's family on this point--the "moral" Hoosiers are both unattractive and unpleasant. The question of how their "heartland values" produced their monster of a son is never really addressed.

The performances are uniformly excellent and often surprising. Bertinelli and Chris Meloni as her husband prove to be far more than a couple of (very) pretty faces, as does Michael Ontkean as the cold blooded killer. It is important that this not get lost by being lumped in with the scores of similar but inferior TV movies.

I saw this movie many yrs ago and I thought it was so heart wrenching. the cast was great. The story really hits home with me now my daughter died March 16th 2009 hiking in Eagle creek on the trail. She fell to her death 100 ft. Her whole entire family including her friends thinks her boyfriend pushed her. They share a child together and he was living in Portland close by to me and my daughter and the baby. since she's passed he's taken the baby to live in Bend with his parents who I think are evil people. He's limiting my time with my grand daughter and is now trying to get my 19 yr old daughter to be with him and he took out a life insurance policy on her 3 months before she died for more than what he insured himself for. This is all I'm going to say about it. I love my daughter very much and I know she would want me to raise her child. I'm going to fight with everything I have to get custody of her.

This is a wonderful made for TV movie that I would highly recommend. It is a tearjerker, so be sure to have a box of Kleenex handy. All though it is long (four hours with commercials) it is worth watching every moment of it over and over again. Valerie Bertinelli's portrayal of a grieving sister is one that should have gotten her at least a nomination for an award, if not won it. The supporting cast is amazing in ever sense of the word as well. This movie cannot be truly appreciated unless you've seen it with your own two eyes. In A Child's Name manages to tap every emotion known to man--sadness, anger, fear and joy. It is certainly a movie that will instantly become a favorite. I am patiently awaiting its release on DVD (hopefully).

I think this movie is one of my most favorite movies on lifetime. I have seen it about 3 or 4 times on lifetime and always wondered when they will release it on DVD. I am amazed how Valerie Bertinelli played a grieving sister who wants to put away her sisters husband and also get custody of her sisters son. She is a wonderful actress, who wont let nothing or no one in her way of getting what should be done. The law enforcers also played a good deed for the grieving family. This movie shows how the law works sometimes, and as for Valerie Bertinelli's character, she did not stop til she and her family won all the way. This movie will have you teary-eyed and thinking how a person could do this to his wife and have his parents believe what he said. I think his family should serve time for helping their son. After you see this movie, you will still think about this movie, you will talk about this movie to your friends. I admire everyone who played in this movie and think they are good actors and actresses.

This is not your standard underdeveloped Lifetime movie fare. There is nothing superficial about this movie. The characters are fully developed. Let's face it. The best movies on Lifetime are the ones that are two parters. When you are dealing with this kind of material, you need that extra time to develop the plot and characters fully. Valerie Bertinelli is at her best in this. I kind of almost got the impression that she was really just playing herself. The aspect that I found most interesting in the second half of the movie, was the exploration of the Midwestern "Family Values" of the Heartland versus the evil New York/New Jersey devils represented by the Silvanos. Kind of makes you wonder!