In years gone by many worthy movies of this kind of 'social awareness" genre were made, but I'm not so sure what the situation is like now. And my reaction to them has been consistent for at least 40 years now - if you take the trouble to actually get into this (kind of) film, you will most likely find and feel at the end that it has been no waste of time. This (kind of) movie is not spectacular, and nobody very famous is in it, but it's done professionally and has something to say.
If we home in on the specific case of Mark Jean's "Finding a Family", we must admit it's more of a two-edged sword. In essence, Jared Abrahamson acting as real-life character Alex Chivescu is here to persuade us that bipolar disease (in this case even brought on by a car accident) is enough to mess up a parent's parenting - in a situation where nobody is guilty and everybody is a victim. That's terribly sad and very probably true, and there's quite a bit of that sadness and truth on offer here. The fact that Alex makes a success of his young life - in spite of the afflictions of his mother (here played well - i.e. tragically - by Kim Delaney) is based on his deliberately moving out from under his mother's influence - hence the "finding a family" of the title. One supposes that there is a secondary message of "take your meds" here. But if sufferers found it that easy to take their meds they most likely wouldn't be sufferers in the first place.
A further message - always good, but much easier to say than do is "don't wallow in self-pity", and that's also tough love, is it not?
So if you watch this movie as somebody who has nothing to do with what we used to call "manic depressive" behaviour, you will rise comfortably above all this and nod wisely and admiringly as Alex begins to get himself sorted out, even when there are setbacks like a move into a children's home which (despite reasonable conditions) does not exactly favour his sought course in life, which is to go to Harvard University.
Equally, if you are bipolar or know somebody who is, or live in such a family, just how are you going to respond to this movie and its main message?
Is it fair to entertain and enlighten the majority while wounding the minority? That's a good question that is not so easy to answer.
With that reservation, this movie has to be seen as worthwhile, interesting, more or less well done, and a kind of tribute...
If we home in on the specific case of Mark Jean's "Finding a Family", we must admit it's more of a two-edged sword. In essence, Jared Abrahamson acting as real-life character Alex Chivescu is here to persuade us that bipolar disease (in this case even brought on by a car accident) is enough to mess up a parent's parenting - in a situation where nobody is guilty and everybody is a victim. That's terribly sad and very probably true, and there's quite a bit of that sadness and truth on offer here. The fact that Alex makes a success of his young life - in spite of the afflictions of his mother (here played well - i.e. tragically - by Kim Delaney) is based on his deliberately moving out from under his mother's influence - hence the "finding a family" of the title. One supposes that there is a secondary message of "take your meds" here. But if sufferers found it that easy to take their meds they most likely wouldn't be sufferers in the first place.
A further message - always good, but much easier to say than do is "don't wallow in self-pity", and that's also tough love, is it not?
So if you watch this movie as somebody who has nothing to do with what we used to call "manic depressive" behaviour, you will rise comfortably above all this and nod wisely and admiringly as Alex begins to get himself sorted out, even when there are setbacks like a move into a children's home which (despite reasonable conditions) does not exactly favour his sought course in life, which is to go to Harvard University.
Equally, if you are bipolar or know somebody who is, or live in such a family, just how are you going to respond to this movie and its main message?
Is it fair to entertain and enlighten the majority while wounding the minority? That's a good question that is not so easy to answer.
With that reservation, this movie has to be seen as worthwhile, interesting, more or less well done, and a kind of tribute...