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What films have you seen that have portrayed people within the adoption triangle? I'd be interested to review how adoption, search/reunion, adoptees, relinquishing parents, adoptive parents, are portrayed in the mass media. For starters, here are the films that I'm aware of (so far I've seen all of them except numbers 1, 2 and 9): 1. The Child (L'Enfant) - (Cannes Film Fest winner: birth mother discovers boyfriend sold their baby on black market) [url="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0456396/"]http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0456396/[/url] 2. The King - (Official selection at Cannes Film Fest: revenge by adoptee on birth father) [url="http://www.jumpstreetfilms.com.au/king.html"]http://www.jumpstreetfilms.com.au/king.html[/url] 3. The Official Story - (Academy Award winner: Argentinian adoptive mother who searches for the birth mother) [url="http://www.library.american.edu/subject/media/aufderheide/official.html"]http://www.library.american.edu/subject/media/aufderheide/official.html[/url] 4. High Tide - (Australian Film Institute winner: birth mother who finds daughter in trailer park) [url="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095305/"]http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095305/[/url] 5. The Daughter from Danang - (Sundance Film Festival winner: docco about reunion between Vietnamese born adoptee and her birth family) [url="http://www.daughterfromdanang.com/"]http://www.daughterfromdanang.com/[/url] 6. Rat Race - (reunion between first mother and daughter, while not central to this comedy flick, the reunion is shown) [url="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0250687/"]http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0250687/[/url] 7. Broken Flowers - (Cannes Film Festival winner: birth father receives anonymous letter about his son and searches for him)[url="http://www.festival-cannes.fr/films/fiche_film.php?langue=6002&id_film=4278008"]http://www.festival-cannes.fr/films/fiche_film.php?langue=6002&id_film=4278008[/url] 8. First Person Plural - (San Francisco International Film Festival winner: docco about Korean-born adoptee who unites her biological and adoptive families) [url="http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2000/firstpersonplural/"]http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2000/firstpersonplural/[/url] 9. DMC: My Adoption Journey - (docco about famous hip-hop/rap musician who searches for his birth mother)[url="http://www.vh1.com/shows/dyn/vh1_rock_docs/99240/episode_about.jhtml"]http://www.vh1.com/shows/dyn/vh1_rock_docs/99240/episode_about.jhtml[/url] 10. Smoke Signals - (Sundance Film Fest winner: Native American man embarks on journey to collect the ashes of his father who'd abandoned him) [url="http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/alexie.html"]http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/alexie.html[/url] 11. Secrets and Lies - (Oscar-nominated film about African-British woman traces her birth mother to a lower-class Anglo-British woman who denies it) [url="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117589/"]http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117589/[/url]
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ripples
The Alliance Francaise French Film Festival is on in Australia and will show 2 films about reunion. I'll see 'em both! Film title: In Your ArmsDans tes bras Director: Hubert GilletActors: Michle Laroque / Martin Loizillon / Catherine Mouchet Louis was abandoned by his mother when he was only a few weeks old. Now sixteen, he wants to know where he comes from and despite the reluctance of his adoptive parents he heads south to find the mother he's never known. Totally thrown by this unexpected visit, florist Solange violently rejects the child she never desired and had forgotten for so long, leaving Louis in despair and unable to comprehend the pain that his return is causing his mother. But Louis perseveres, and in the midst of this turmoil he searches for, and finds himself. Stumbling between obstacles and small victories, a fledgling but luminous relationship develops between Louis and his mother. Could this be a new beginning? Hubert Gillet drew on his own experiences as an adopted child for this sincere and sensitive feature debut that follows the very complicated reunion of a teenager and his biological mother.
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ripples
A few of my adoptee friends and I just saw the film tonight at the Alliance Francaise Film Festival in Australia [URL="http://www.frenchfilmfestival.org/"]The Alliance Francaise French Film Festival 2010 in Australia[/URL] and it was absolutely brilliant! Very sensitive and subtle portrayal of the complexities in reunion as experienced by all members of the triad. Excellent acting, particularly by the main character (the adoptee) and his birth mother. This is by far THE best adoption-related film (non-docco) that I have ever seen, given it's ability to show the depth and breadth of emotions regarding reunion without being overly dramatic.
Season 8, Episode 4, "Burns, Baby Burns", depicts the reunion of Montgomery Burns and his long lost son, Larry Burns. While entertaining, it wasn't quite as good as the episode where Homer Simpson meets his biological father, "Homer's Paternity Coot" (Season 17, Episode 10) [URL="http://forums.adoption.com/media-adoptees/254762-homer-simpson-searches-his-biological-father.html"]http://forums.adoption.com/media-adoptees/254762-homer-simpson-searches-his-biological-father.html[/URL] Storylines of both episodes can be found on Wikipedia (warning - there are plot spoilers!).
Excellent film depicting the coming of age of teenagers in a small town in Australia. And FINALLY a film depicting adoptees without the central plot being about search/reunion! Very well acted, beautifully filmed, emotionally packed and very evocative of Australia's rural area. It won 5 Australian Film Institute awards (the Australian version of the Acadmey Awards), including Best Picture and stars Noah Taylor (from the Oscar-winning film, "Shine"). Here's the blurb from the DVD jacket: "The Year My Voice Broke is set in the summer of 1962 in a remote New South Wales country town. Adopted as a baby, sixteen year-old Freya is a constant target of cruel gossip and speculation. Spirited and independent, her one ally is Danny, who has been in love with her as long as he can remember. From a distance, Danny watches helplessly as Freya falls for the town tearaway, Trevor. Trevor's and Freya's relationship has explosive results that change everything and trigger Danny's discovery of the town's darkest secret."
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A new film by Rodrigo Garcia (director of the Sopranos) starring Annette Bening and Naomi Watts explores the experiences of an adoptee, a birth mother and an adoptive mother. I look forward to seeing this film. [url=http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/25/movies/25mother.html?hpw]In Rodrigo Garcas Film, Rare Insights Into Adoption - NYTimes.com[/url]
Thanks Ripples, It sounds like a good film, it does not say he interviewed real like mothers and childrens - I wonder if he did. I will try and see it next month. I will have to see if I can find the Australian film you noted in the post above - that sounds really good too. Kind regards,Dickons
Ripples, Annette Benning was on Ellen yesterday and they showed a clip of "Mother and Child". Looks like it should be good. They also talked about her other film that was in the 10 ten at Sundance Festival called "The Kids Are Alright". Which looks really good and is about donor conceived kids looking for their father. [url=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704878904575031062619927700.html]'The Kids Are All Right,' With Annette Bening and Julianne Moore, Nabs Big Sundance Sale - WSJ.com[/url] Kind regards,Dickons
2 of my adoptee friends and I saw the Mother and Child film tonight. We thought it was good in terms of drama and acting but just medium-level regarding its educational value for illustrating some aspects of the adoption triangle. Overall the acting and character development was excellent, particularly Naomi Watts and Annette Bening, although some parts were a bit over-dramatic, over-acted or incredulous (eg. too much suddenly spilling one's guts out) a la Hollywood. Definitely some thought-provoking parts/dialogue while other parts tended to gloss over some parts of adoption. Some societal stereotype reinforcement crops up while other parts may shed light on things that non-adopted people take for granted, eg. knowing one's medical history. I don't want to be too specific since I'm trying to avoid giving away the plot. All in all, I'd give it 3.5 out of 5 stars in terms of drama, acting, plot, cinematography and educational value regarding all 3 parts of the adoption triangle. Whereas "In Your Arms" (see previous posting) I'd give it 4.5 out of 5.
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I saw "Adopted".
Paulie Shore is the most annoying man in existance.
It was shock value comedy, I didn't like it, but I did like it. He made a good point about some people looking to adopt. It was pretty dumb tho.
I liked seeing the people in africa talking about adoption, and three 'orphans' said no way I don't want to go home with this nut case LOL
The point at the end was a list of the countries and the hundreds of thousands of 'orphans' in need.
and [url]www.unicef.com[/url]
Hot in Cleveland, the new golden girls LOL, was very funny. I love Betty White and Valerie B.
One of the ladies decides to begin to search online for her son that she placed for adoption at the end of the second episode.
I didn't see this one on your list but it's a fabulous movie!! "The Blind Side" is based on the remarkable true story of Baltimore Ravens offensive left tackle Michael Oher. Sandra Bullock won an Academy Award for her role as the adoptive Mom.
Full synopsis here, but contains spoilers: [url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0878804/synopsis]The Blind Side (2009) - Synopsis[/url]
An Aussie film about an Aussie couple that journeys to India to collect their adopted baby but their marriage begins to unravel [URL="http://www.thewaitingcity.com.au/"]The Waiting City[/URL]It had good reviews from one of the Australian film reviewers[url=http://www.abc.net.au/atthemovies/txt/s2931070.htm]At the Movies: The Waiting City[/url]I'll see it next week-end with my adoptee pals.
A successful Muslim business owner has an identity crisis when he finds out he's adopted and Jewish. A comedy that got moderate ratings from 2 of Australia's prominent film reviewers. Stars Omid Djalili, a famous Iranian-British stand-up comedian and Best Supporting Actor in the film Casanova. [url=http://www.abc.net.au/atthemovies/txt/s2985246.htm]At the Movies: The Reluctant Infidel[/url]
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My adoptee friend and I saw the film and we both agreed that while it's certainly not educational material about adoptees' actual experiences, there were still a lot of funny bits. Very clever dialogue and quite thought-provoking about Arab-Jewish socio-politics and stereotypes. The main character's attempts to tell jokes in Hebrew as well as recall the 5 main religious (Jewish faith) books drew tons of laughter. And a very well done scene when the main character is talking to the social worker to find out his birth name. Also a few poignant scenes and lots of great acting by Omid Djalili.
I just saw the film documentary, "Resilience", resiliencefilm.com tonight and it is fabulous! Subtle, candid, poignant, honest and an excellent balance between showing the experiences of the birth-mother and the adoptee as well as some of the social context of S. Korea. Definitely one of the top of my list for educational value as well as moving footage. The film has already shown in Pusan International Film Festival, in San Francisco, New York and Melbourne.