La force de l'amour

This is probably one of the best movies about child abuse that I have ever seen. I found it in the cheap movie rack at a department store, which is usually where mediocre movies go to die. I was surprised to find a plot that went beyond the formulaic and dealt with the real struggles that accompany child abuse. The main protagonists in this story are foster parents who struggle to keep their foster daughter from being returned to her formerly abusive father. Marie Martin does a superb job as Tella, and when she cries out in terror at having to be returned to her abuser, it seems real. The dynamics between the characters show the real struggles that people undergo when a family is split apart. There is no clear good guy/bad guy dynamic between the legal system/CPS and the foster family, and even the adoptive father muses "they're just people doing their jobs the best they know how." The other heroes in the movie are not whom one would at first expect, but are simply down-to-earth people with which most of us can easily identify. Best of all, this movie doesn't go for the syrupy sweet ending. It does not gloss over the fact that Tella's abuse has forever changed her.

This story illustrates what was and is wrong with the child welfare system even today. I thought the acting was very realistic. I especially liked the scene is which Clara Brady, played by Tess Harper, openly declares her love for the little girl she has raised since infancy. She stands up to the social worker.

The story is about a foster child who is forced to return to her father whom she claims is abusing her. It is a based on a true story. It is similar to what has been happening to many children in this country who are caught up in the system that is supposed to protect them.

The actors are convincing in their roles. Marie Martin as the little girl does a fine job with a very difficult role.

At the moment it is very hard to think of any. A little girl gets wrenched away from her loving foster parents into the arms of her abusive biological father (don't ask why). Cue over an hour of enough waterworks to flood the Thames, more courtroom scenes than you'd see in an entire season of Magnum P.I, and one of the most annoying, cutesy moppets in the history of cinema who is so sickly sweet your teeth will rot just by looking at her. Will she end up staying with Mr Violent at the end, or will she go back into the warm bosom of her adopted family, who have kept a 24 hour vigil on her cheap music box with the ballerina (great metaphor there, guys!!) while she's been gone? What do you think? I'm sure you already know, so instead of telling you I will now go clay pigeon shooting.. with a DVD!! Wish me luck!! 0/10