Dangerous Intentions

I enjoyed the film overall. The subject of the film was absorbing. Each aspect of the abuse was spot on and very thoughtfully done.

The acting was pretty bad, I think they deliberately act this way for this type of movie. This didn't bother me too much. It's well worth a watch.

The horror of this most unwanted situation is the absolute hopelessness of the victim's case when she finds herself utterly powerless. When a man or husband turns off to a road of brutality, the question is, whether it is at all possible to make him turn right again. Unfortunately an overwhelming lot of cases refute that possibility. It becomes like an addiction, he just has to turn on again in that fury and go berserk again and again, until society has had enough and has to stop him. The wife is helpless, her awareness of it just goes from bad to worse all the way, the only way through is to endure it, and here at least she has the great opportunity to state her case at court, which is the highlight of the film - the court wants to charge her for contempt of court, but her case is too strong, too convincing, too real, for anyone to be able to raise any objection. And alas, her case proves too real and true, as she is not the only one whose husband tries to murder her - there are three million American women being abused by their partners on a daily basis, resulting in three deaths per day. This social problem is more than just outrageous.

There's a constant wind noise through most of the movie. This can be caused by failure to use a device called a "dead cat" (or "dead kitten" for a small one). This is a furry cover for the microphone that slows the wind before it hits the microphone and makes noise.

Lovely Donna Mills stars as a battered woman who after leaving her abusive husband flees to a shelter. Corbin Bernsen acts cruel enough. Robyn Givens is effective as a battered woman she meets and gets killed by her ex. The system doesn't protect her when she has to go into witness protection.

Highlights flaws in the system. They made them better in the 90s.

A somewhat accurate depiction of domestic abuse. This TV movie does a decent job of showing the snowball effect that can happen when abuse starts in a family home. At times you question the choices the female victims make. But, then you realize - they shouldn't have to make these decision in order to protect themselves and the children from their abusive partners, and who knows how you'd actually react to a situation like this.