Movie reviews

Recently I have found myself becoming a lot more interested in the way adoption and birth mothers are portrayed in the media. For the most part it isn't that good. So as often as I can I try to find and watch as many movies as I can that have any link to adoption.

I have seen two movies that really stuck with me. Mother and Child and Philomena.

Mother and Child is a movie that involves three stories that intertwine. A birth mother who placed her daughter 37 years ago in a closed adoption, a woman who was adopted at birth and a young couple trying to adopt a baby. The stories are all interesting and for the most part I found that the characters were believable. It is easy to relate to most of them. There were moments however that I got a little lost and I felt like they went a weird direction with the characters. I would recommend this movie if you are ever bored and want something to do,  however I would not recommend going out of your way to see this movie. I did cry just to warn you but I am also a very sensitive person, especially about any kind of adoption story.

Philomena is an amazing movie. It is about a woman who was forced into placing her young son up for adoption. He was basically taken from her and 50 years later she decides that she wants to find out what happened to her son. I feel like talking about it just does not do it any justice. I cried through out the whole thing, just to warn you guys again, but I loved every minute of it. You feel her pain and you know where she is coming from. The feeling of just wanting to know that your child is okay. The actors do an amazing job showing the real raw emotion and the ugly side of closed adoptions. Did I also mention that this movie is a true story? It makes me want to cry just thinking about it! Philomena is a must see movie for anyone and it is definitely a must see for us birth moms!

For me watching movies about adoption helps me. It helps me to see other stories, even if they are not true. Birth mothers are not always painted in a positive light and so it is nice to see movies that paint a picture of the loving and caring birth mom and not the lady who abandoned her baby, because none of us are like that.  I hope that one day we can make our story known more and then adoption won't be as taboo to talk about.

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