Society's Child

I didn't enjoy this movie AT ALL. It's mostly the approach to the story. I would have preferred seeing a realistic look at this disease, but instead we get tossed into this girl's mind so to speak, and are unfortunately forced to listen to an unnecessary and irritating narration throughout the whole film. And above all, like we're supposed to feel sorry, or some hint of emotion, for this woman who is unwed and has six children and living on welfare?! I don't think so! She put herself in that position by having kids when she was 14!! Just really cliched in certain situations which we expected: like mom having an unreliable on again-off again and somewhat abusive boyfriend, rebellious older children, scrapping for food and money, and Nikki just adapting to everyday functions. I realize the girl had the mind capacity of a two-year old, but that whining every time her mom would fight or get hurt, was SO annoying. I just became more and more annoyed as I watched this, so I turned it off after an hour. Very few made for tv movies are remarkably good, but this one is remarkably bad. Don't waste your time.

This movie touched my heart and soul. It covered a very difficult and touching issue based on a true story. It was directed and shown with the love and dignity that the Mother wanted to portray of the life and death of a child and to make people more aware of Rett Syndrome, something that most libraries and people have very little knowledge of.

I thought that this was a very well written movie about real life, not life as we would like it. The mother may have been a welfare mother with 6 children, but she did the best that she could. She gave her daughter more love than anyone else could have done under the circumstances. She did try to bring the child's father back into her life, but that didn't work out and she dealt with it. In my opinion, she was a very brave strong woman who was given more than she could bear, but never gave up, because that wasn't an option. If you have a child with a disability, giving up is not your choice. Nikki was blessed to be raised with love.

I randomly found this film on the TV one day when I was a kid. I enjoyed Jessica Steen's acting greatly as she fought for her child to live a "normal" life. I also enjoyed the story of the movie. I wouldn't recommend this movie to just anyone, you have to be prepared for low expectations of the film. It is a lower budget movie. But if your seeking a film about a mother and her love for her children I would watch it. Unfortunately I can't seem to find this movie anywhere.

Like most made for tv movies, this potentially moving film about the plight of a very brave disabled little girl is hi-jacked by a script that always sticks to the obvious, dialogue which is painful in its banality and a patronising, simplistic attitude to the issues that it raises. If this film got advice from doctors specialising in this condition behind the scenes it certainly doesn't show, she might as well be Dustin Hoffman from Rain Man for all the film tells us about her. Also for my money the narrator who is assigned in the film to "voice" her thoughts is an extremely insulting touch, how on earth can she think up more wisecracks than Mikey from "Look Who's Talking" when we already know she has the maturity of a 2 year old?! I could go on about the sexist undercurrent running through the film which paints every man as a child-beating loser or an uneducated dope, not to mention the pathetic ending which cheats by giving us hope only to throw it back in our faces, but I think I've made my point. Fact is, TV movies aren't exactly an art form and if you're looking for authenticity and the truth about sufferers of this terrible genetic disease and the effect that it has on the people around them, you'd be much better off down the library doing research then subjecting yourself to the tabloid treatment that this film reduces it to.