De l'autre côté de l'amour

In the real story as told on the ID Channel's true crime series "Evil Stepmother," Donna Yaklich allegedly, both physically & verbally, abused her stepchildren, especially the youngest, which was her 5 year old stepdaughter. Also, during the autopsy there was no evidence found of steroid use in Dennis Yaklich's remains. Moreover, the decease's family accused Donna of stealing $11,000 from his parents & that she was motivated by greed. Dennis had $325,000 worth of life insurance.

but the truth is, no woman should EVER endure this torture from her husband.

While Yaklich's reputation has been marred as having planned this out (to collect insurance money) this does not mean she deserved to be beaten and emotionally abused by her husband. Yes, he was a vice cop; that does not give him carte blanche to treat everyone as subordinate, which he apparently did.

There is a brief appearance by Hillary Swank, as Donna's stepdaughter. Brad Johnson and Jaclyn Smith fit the roles accordingly, and if even half of this film is accurate, Donna's husband was a monster.

This film is educational, and helpful for women's issues. Whether or not the victim received money, in the end, is a moot point. Donna deserved a stable marriage, and instead endured years of abuse. This is NEVER acceptable. 8/10

This is a typical wife-abuse movie which is well acted. The main problem with this production is the casting of Jaclyn Smith. She does a creditable portrayal-however as an obviously intelligent individual, she has to portray someone who does highly illogical things that someone of her intellect wouldn't.

'Cries Unheard: The Donna Yaklich Story' (1994) is an American made-for-television drama film starring Jaclyn Smith as Donna Yaklich and Brad Johnson as Dennis Yaklich. The film's powerful themes of domestic violence and abuse are only let down by some tedious scenes.

The film is said to be based on a true story. However, Vanessa Yaklich, one of Dennis and Barbara's real children who is not present in this film, has spoken out about the supposed veracity of the story as she stated that Donna's claims were an "outright lie." Whatever your own opinions about it, I find that the point of this film is about domestic abuse and how difficult it is for a woman to get her voice heard in a patriarchal society, especially during the period when this film was first released in 1994.

Some reviewers here on IMDB have also pointed out that there seems to be a plot hole in the fact that Donna could have done more to leave Dennis or reported him to the police or another agency. Dennis was an officer himself so she must have felt that the authorities would be on his side. Also, these reviewers fail to understand that Donna's real struggle is her fear, she was absolutely fearful of Dennis and what he would do to her or her sister if she left him. It was also a different world back then as reports of domestic abuse filed by women were not taken as seriously as they are now.

Whether you believe her or not, this is Donna's story and it is a profound and important testament to the traumatic, often violent, effects of domestic abuse. In my country of Malta, where domestic violence and femicides are on the increase, Donna's story is as important today as it was in 1994.

Unless you have walked that path of abuse it is really hard to say what is rational and what is not. I know from experience that all you do is try to escape and when there is no out because he comes after you every time then your mind begins to think of any means out for a normal life. It is sad when I read the comments of others about yelling HELP etc. because she did when she went to a shelter and asked his friends for help. The only thing to do is to look for red flags in a relationship and get out at the first sign of violence. She should have left when he threw the can at her but unless you know about abuse and violence you have no idea of what you are in for.