Review of Losing Isaiah (1995) by Jonathan B — 24 Dec 2015

Despite having strong central performances from both Jessica Lange and Halle Berry this is an overly sentimental and schmaltzy movie that plays every trick to play at the heart strings and doesn't really succeed.

What should be a difficult and interesting and powerful conflict about whether it is better that an abandoned child is better raised with a family from a different ethnic background or returned to his birth mother is dealt with in only the most simplistic terms and is not really explored as fully as such a topic should be.

Maybe this is an argument that has had its day since the movie was made but it all feels somewhat glib, a feeling not helped by the rather unsatisfying way in which the movie ends. These days, I would hope that in such situations, none of the professional and legal bodies depicted in this movie would behave in the manner depicted and the fact that there is little exploration by the court as to what is best for the child nor does there seem to be any involvement of the child in the decision.

Maybe we've just moved on? I would hope so.