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http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/losing-isaiah-1995

Losing Isaiah

LOSING ISAIAH (1995)

Cast

Jessica Langeas Margaret

Halle Berryas Khaila

Mark John Jeffriesas Isaiah

Directed by

Stephen Gyllenhaal

DramaRated RFor Drug Related Material and Brief Strong Language

108 minutes

| Roger EbertMarch 17, 1995 | 0Print Page

The papers are filled with heartbreaking stories of tugs-of-war over children. Natural parents suefor custody, adoptive parents sue to keep the children they have grown to love, divorced couples

fight desperately for possession of the children. The public takes sides in these wrenching

melodramas, but really there can be no winners, only survivors. And God help the children.

"Losing Isaiah," inspired by various actual cases, tells the story of a cocaine-addicted blackwoman named Khaila (Halle Berry) who, in a drugged haze, stumbles out of a crack house and

abandons her son in a cardboard box in an alley. The next morning, realizing her mistake, she

races outside, but it is too late; the child has disappeared, and for several years she believes it is

dead.But it has been saved. Garbage men have heard its cries and taken it to an emergency room,

where at first it seems about to die.That's all right with the hospital workers, who have seen a lot of crack babies and do not believe

in taking "extraordinary measures" to save them. But then a white social worker named MargaretLewin (Jessica Lange) takes pity: "If you're not going to help him, you might as well just throw

him back in the dumpster." The baby lives, and is eventually adopted by Lange and her husband

Charles (David Strathairn). They have a teenage daughter of their own. The baby is difficult and

hyperactive; it makes a scene at the older girl's school musical. But the Lewins love it. And sothe situation remains until the child is 3 or 4.

Meanwhile, Khaila has been through drug rehabilitation and is clean, sober and working as a

housekeeper and child minder for an affluent white family. Then one day she learns, almost by

accident, that her son is still alive. And eventually, with the help of a social worker and an

attorney (Samuel L. Jackson), she sues for custody. That leads to a courtroom confrontation andagonizing drama behind the scenes, in a ritual that has become familiar in many real cases.

Whom does the baby belong with? The parents it has bonded with? Or its biological mother? Didthe mother forfeit her rights on that drugged-out night, or has she earned them back again with

her recovery? What about the arguments that black children belong in black homes? The movie,

directed byStephen Gyllenhaaland written byNaomi Foner, deals with all of those issues, but ina finally unsatisfactory way.

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The problem, obviously, is that there are no satisfactory answers - no way a solution can be

found without causing great pain.

There are many individual scenes in the film that have great power, as when Khaila quietly visits

the Lewins' neighborhood to see her child at a distance. But there are other scenes that ring false,such as a confrontation in a washroom outside the courtroom, where the filmmakers have

stacked the cards by making Khaila look fresh and flawless, and Margaret ratty and tearful, herhair straggling into her eyes.

The movie has been carefully written so as not to offend the opinions of anyone in the audience.No matter what side you are on, you will find your viewpoint expressed. The filmmakers

apparently have no firm ideas of their own about the rightness and wrongness of the alternatives

(why did they make the movie?), and the conclusion is worthy of Solomon in the way itdispenses understanding and love on all sides while finding a solution which, although it does

allow the movie to end, really solves nothing.

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/losing_isaiah/

Two women of dramatically different social, economic, and ethnic circumstances find themselves locked into a bitter child custody

dispute in this emotionally powerful drama. Khailia Richards (Halle Berry) is a poor and drug-addicted single mother who, while

stumbling out of a crack house one night, accidentally leaves her infant son Isaiah in a cardboard box near a trash heap. The next

morning, Khailia realizes to her horror that she left her baby behind, and she runs back to the crack spot to retrieve him. However,

the baby is missing, and after much search, she presumes that he must be dead. As it turns out, the baby was spotted in the nick of

time by sanitation workers and rushed to a hospital, where at the insistence of social worker Margaret Lewin (Jessica Lange) the

baby's life was saved. Margaret's heart goes out to the baby, who, along with illnesses brought about by neglect, suffers from

emotional and educational problems often associated with children whose mothers used cocaine during pregnancy. Margaret

adopts Isaiah and raises the child with the help of her husband Charles (David Strathairn). Four years later, Khailia has successfully

gone through drug rehabilitation and holds down a steady and responsible job as a nanny and housekeeper. She learns by chance

that Isaiah is still alive, and she quickly hires an attorney, Kadar Lewis (Samuel L. Jackson), to help her reclaim custody of her son.

However, Margaret loves the child and is not about to give him up without a battle in court. LaTanya Richardson plays Caroline

Jones, the attorney Kadar Lewis squares off against in court; in real life, Richardson and Jackson are married. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

This Discovery Channel program examines schizophrenia, an often heartbreaking mental illness that can rob people of the

chance to pursue normal goals. After noting that one percent of the world's population suffers from this disability anddescribing its symptoms, experts discuss how this insidious disease affects the human brain and a person's ability to

function socially. Fortunately, some afflicted individuals are able to achieve a high state of functioning, including Dr. John

Nash Jr., who won a Nobel Prize in Economics. However, most spend their lives struggling to cope with hallucinatory voices

and the potent drugs designed to control all of the troubling symptoms of the illness. Case studies and interviews help

illustrate how various people are trying to live with this disease.

Paghahambing at Pagkokontrast -ang teksto ay naglalaman ng pagkakatulad at pagkakaiba ng mga konsepto.

Suliranin at Solusyon -sinasagot ang mga problema sa pamamagitan ng eksposisyon at iba pang mga patnubay.

Sanhi at Bunga -inilalahad ang tekso sa pamamagitan ng mga dahilan at epekto ng mga pangyayari at aksyon.

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