The Burning Bed

As a child who grew up in an abusive home I remember watching this movie when I was about 7 or 8 and being able to identify with everything from the lack of family support (or acknowledgment that there was even something wrong) to the total disregard from law enforcement. This is an excellent film that displays the hell women have experienced (and are still continuing to experience) at the hands of abusive tyrants.

Francine Hughes is the personification of strength and may God bless her!!

I have seen this movie many times and still it has an effect on me. I have read the book and I can say that the movie does stick closely to the book regarding the events in Francine's life. Of course, they can not fit 12 years of abuse into a 2 hour film and so there are many events that are not included in the movie. Also another major fact missing from the movie is the children. In real life Mickey and Francine had four children, in the movie, there is only three. Why I think that happened is on the night that Francine did kill Mickey, her third child (son Dana) was not at home and at a friend's house. When she drove to the police station, she only had three of the children in the car with her.

Francine's mother did herself suffer from violence (but not to the extent of Francine's abuse) Her mother didn't approve of the abuse but only that Francine had to at least try and live with it. Francine had literally no where to go. She had four children with Mickey and no matter where she went, he would found her. As someone pointed out, Mickey was the only man who abuse his wife in his family. There were three other brothers in the Hughes household and not one of them, hit their wife. In fact, Mickey's mother was a very strong women and his father didn't abuse his mother either. His family were always there to help Francine and they were the ones that she would go to during the early years. Towards the end, they were getting old themselves and couldn't handle Mickey's violence and told her, not to come running to them anymore. The mother did a complete turn around at the court case and said that Mickey never abused Francine at all.

Just to make the ending a bit more understanding. When Francine came home from school that day on 7th March 1977. She took the children to go shopping. When they came back from the shopping, that is when the abuse started. Mickey didn't like what Francine had brought and it started from that. He then was telling her that she would have to quit school and she wouldn't agree. He started to beat her and nearly strangled her. He made her burn her books. Francine went out to burn the books and when she came back into the house, he asked her again, are you going to quit school and she replied. No Mickey, I am still going. That is when all the abuse, really started. The children called the police. The police came and had a talk with Mickey. It was after they left and half an hour later when Francine and the kids were sitting to have dinner, that is when Mickey came back into the kitchen and started to beat Francine again. He then made her have sex with him. It was after all of that and when he finally went to sleep, that is when Francine lost it and burned the bed.

A must read book, to truly understand the movie but also saying that, the movie does stick to the book, as best as it could.

I grew up in Dansville and was very familiar with what happened there with Francine and the Hughes house. As a teenager, I couldn't really comprehend the psychological damage that was being done to her on top of the domestic violence. As an adult, and as a wife and mother myself now, it's shattering to watch again. To watch and know that it didn't even seem to cause an eyelash to twitch to some of the people she confided in. They knew. They accepted. They complied. I cannot imagine all of the pain beyond the physical that this woman suffered during those horrific years of her life. I was glad to know that she moved far away from the toxicity she had found herself in and was able to restart and reclaim her life and the lives of her children.

As for the film, Farrah Fawcett is simply brilliant. The directing is of a caliber that literally makes you feel as though you're in Francine's shoes. Sure, it's been associated with starting the Lifetime Movie of the Week trend but it is a Gold Standard that they wish they could live up to.

This has to be the best TV Movie ever created. Directed by the same guy who directed Xanadu....[??? How's that possible? He also directed WALMART: the High Cost of Low Prices, too] His direction of The Burning Bed is superb, to say the least.

You really feel as though her fear and terror are your own through claustrophobic cinematography in the scenes where she's being attacked. The dignity the cast and director were able to conjure for this sad story is far better than television deserves. The violence she imparts upon her husband gives her no satisfaction for she is not a malicious or vengeful woman.

I believe this movie has inspired countless women to leave abusive relationships since the first day it aired and more so as time has passed. Through it's ability to reach such a wide audience and it's star power, the attention it drew to the issue of battered women could be considered nothing less than a milestone.

I saw this movie on Lifetime a few months ago and to be honest with you, it just tore my heart out to see Francine suffer the way she did, and there's a part of me that was glad that she handled it the way she did, glad that her SOB husband got what he deserved. Anybody who treats his wife of any woman that way deserves whatever he gets. And kudos to Farrah for her portrayal of Francine.