Un passo verso il domani

Beautifully acted by Meryl Streep and the rest of the cast, this film is based on a true story of a mother who defied the medical profession to get her son on the ketogenic diet at Johns Hopkins.

Due to the tremendous lobbying power of the AMA in this country, alternative treatments are not recognized here the way they are in Europe and in other countries. Yet people often have to be subjected to harmful, and often unhelpful medications. One hears a lot about animal experimentation - in the end, the guinea pig is always the human patient, as doctors "try out" drug cocktails and new drugs on patients who suffer horrible side effects from them, as did the child in this film.

I won't give away the twist at the end of the film, but watch it clear to the end and you'll get a marvelous surprise.

Although this film is a bit heavy-handed in its efforts to promote the Ketogenic diet as an alternative treatment for epilepsy, it does address many of the issues that face families when a member is diagnosed with serious illness. In addition, Seth Adkins (who has since portrayed Pinocchio in the TV movie "Geppeto") does an absolutely amazing job of portraying several different types of seizure, a feat which would be remarkable even for an adult. A very watchable flick.

This was a pleasant surprise from Jim Abrahams, better known for his work on the Zucker Brothers' movies (Airplane!, The Naked Gun). The point is, however, that this movie is probably a good example of cinematic drama if I've ever seen it. 4*s.

Initially when I saw this movie on Amazon I was skeptical of buying it, I thought it would be that sort of a lame family struggle film, however this is not the case.

When her son is diagnosed with epilepsy, Lori Reimuller (Meryl Streep), tries to deal with it, taking every measure that she can. After researching epilepsy she discovers the ketogenic diet, a miracle cure? or a unfounded treatment that is a pipe dream? This is a terrific film with wonderful performances from all, I would recommend this film to anyone who has or knows of someone with epilepsy. I myself had it (although this was a mild form that I grew out of). I was never aware of the ketogenic diet.

While I could go on about this film more, simply put it was a must see for everybody, not just for the ketogenic diet but also for awareness of epilepsy in general.

Meryl Streep took a break from feature films for a rare TV movie role, while Jim (Airplane!) Abrahams took a break from wacky comedies, to tell this extraordinary story of a family that must take its health care into its own hands when the medical complex is failing them - after losing almost everything. Their son seems to have a variety of epilepsy that's tragically difficult to diagnose and treat.

Many have lost family members because they didn't have the strength and courage to challenge their doctors' biases before it was too late. So this true story is an important vaccine for people who need to take back responsibility for their families' health. It's a stark contrast and partial antidote to thousands of made-up movie and TV medical stories.

Streep, Fred Ward and the rest of the cast are superb. Allison Janney is perfectly cast as the doctor, because in real life the 'bad guys' are often smart, attractive, and certain they're doing the right thing.