Une vie à l'épreuve

Debra Winger proves her mettle once again as she did 26 years ago in the memorable "Terms of Endearment."

As always, this is a successful film because it deals with a family that comes together to aid their mother, played fantastically by Winger, who is in the grips of a major illness. The cohesiveness of the family structure was never better than depicted in this film. In addition to the warm, caring relationships, Winger finds happiness with a school associate and marriage pursues.

How terrible that one of her children was a victim of the Columbine Massacre. The picture shows how Winger comes to grips with her loss and becomes a crusader against gun violence. A true triumph of the human spirit, this film should not be missed. Endearing as films can be.

I was very disappointed with Dawn Anna. I have been an avid Columbine researcher for nearly a year or so now and was highly looking forward to this movie. I almost feel horrible saying the movie was bad simply because it was all true events and tragic nonetheless. So, before I begin, I think the story itself is fascinating and inspiring, but it came across weak in this movie.

The story is Dawn Anna is a single mother of four terrific kids who is in desperate need of a job. So, in less than ten minutes, she gets one as a teacher. And five minutes from that, she decides to be the volleyball coach after meeting nice guy Bink, who wants to take her out to dinner and in no time, they're an official couple. The kids seem to warm up to him quickly except one, but a sudden turn of events puts that on hold. Dawn Anna discovers (after tumbling around in school and forgetting things easily) that she has some sort of brain tumor and it needs to be removed via opening the skull. So, in the span of fifteen minutes, Dawn is checked by a doctor, a diagnosis is made, she attempts to have it removed one way (which fails), then she has to official surgery and gets it removed.

From there, we see that after the surgery, Dawn is unable to speak or walk. So, the kids and Bink (they all like him now) take it as their responsibility to help her. She learns to speak and walk in roughly fifteen more minutes after going through physical therapy and reading flashcards. She's finally allowed to go home and Bink finally proposes to her. Some evening a few days after (or seconds, depending on who's time your on), Dawn is tucking in her daughter Lauren, who up until now wasn't the main focus whatsoever, and we zip up to five years later (1999). Lauren is now the only child still living at home. All of a sudden, Lauren becomes a more interesting character and a larger focal point. We're now about an hour an fifteen minutes into the movie.

After a brief subplot of Lauren's sister getting engaged and Lauren having an extremely weird discussion with her mother (which is thrown in there simply to show the relationship between them, I believe), we get to the Columbine story. After Lauren is dropped off at her school, a young man is wearing a Columbine jacket, which is the first we hear about what school officially she attends. A commercial break occurs with police sirens in the fade out. Once we understand what is going on, Dawn rushes home to watch the news stories in bewilderment (these are real news casts from the event as well). The family gathers around and victims advocates come to the house to get information on her daughter. They announce her daughter is a victim on TV the next day and make it official. This all happens in ten minutes. We spend no time worrying for her daughter or seeing the growing panic in the household because we're running out of time. The film ends with the family trying to get back on their feet and Dawn becoming a public speaker on gun control. She ends by going to visit Lauren's grave (which also looks exactly like the real Lauren Townsend's grave up close, so I think it probably is, but the crane shot doesn't look like the real cemetery). The film is dedicated to the lives lost at Columbine even though we barely spend any time thinking about it and we don't even seem to care about Lauren until the film is more than half over.

I thought the story was just a jumble of events. They didn't follow any distinct direction except the "Let's just throw in one bad thing after another to show how this woman can overcome it all." The character development just wasn't there. I've studied the real Dawn Anna and her daughter, Lauren Townsend, for some time now, and I can say that both were and are remarkable women. Debra Winger is also a terrific actress who is often underrated. I was just disappointed with how both the acting and the story didn't compliment each other. It seems like the movie was under such pressure to stuff everything into just two hours that we didn't have time to even discuss where the real father was, the marriage between Bink and Dawn, or Lauren being an extremely scholarly student (she was named Valedictorian posthumously at her graduation). If this film had been made into a two part series or even a mini series, I think it would have been much more effective and we could have gotten a lot more story-line. Unfortunately, I don't believe Debra Winger's talents were used to their fullest potential and I don't believe the story of Dawn Anna and her daughter was of remote interest the way it was told.

I've seen the movie on the local cable TV. It was so touchy that I cried once in a while seeing it. I felt the hurt and pain the family's victims had been through. Wanting some more information about the incident, I'd searched on the internet, and what I'd got surprised me. As far as I see, the USA's government has always showed its power to the world. While the armies and enforcements has Always been quickly approaching other countries, why were they TOO late to save or rescue their own people? Both Cyclone Catarina and The Columbine tragidy have proved those surprising failures to the world. 3 hours in the Columbine's and 5 days in the Catarina's? I couldn't believe it, after they approaching my country, Thailand, not more than 2 or 3 days after the Tsunami's, for help which I, as all people in the country, had appreciated. Anyway, Is there any movie of Coach Dave Sanders, the teacher who sacrified himself to save his students? If there is none, how about some movie producers considering to make one? I think He was truly a hero and I would be truly glad to see it. ^_^

Debra Winger is seen in a Vital Role after a long time. She appeared little rusty and camera conscious and shown little signs of attention awareness. Except that, she did a fabulous job.

It would have been nice if the movie is little lengthy that might have allowed the director to show the togetherness of the family by infusing some lighter moments. 2 hour movie format and having pressure of showing all the real life events, took little toll on movie and as a result movie appeared heavy.

Except above drawbacks, Debra Winger has put up a very honest performance, which richly deserves all the kudos. Without doubt she is a great artist.

I loved this movie. It showed how you get through life's ups and downs and they couldn't have chose a better actress, Debra Winger. All of the cast acted as if they were a real family, I couldn't have asked for a better cast!! The only thing is that you have to watch the beginning of the movie to understand it, because if you don't watch the beginning you'll get lost.Dawn Anna lets you know that family is very important and spending time with your family is very important. Dawn Anna went through a lot and with the help of her kids and her very caring boyfriend she wouldn't have made it through. I rate this movie a 10 out of 10 stars. It has excellent actors/actresses, and excellent directory and filmography. I LUV THIS MOVIE SOOOOO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!