1994-02-18
N/A
101 min
Maggie has had four children, by four different fathers, removed by social services because of a previous violent relationship. When she meets Jorge, a gentle Latin American refugee, she gradually sees her chance for happiness, but her history still haunts her.
Maggie meets George at a bar. He has fallen for her while she was singing, and wants to know everything about her life. He finally gets her sad story, how the authorities took her four children (after one of them was burned badly when she was out working), how the man she was with continously beat her. Her life was a tragic one, and of course she doesn't trust anyone.
George, by the way, is from Paraguay and has a tragic story of his own. He is a man with a strong will, and believes that he can change Maggie and give her the life that she deserves. Two times, Maggie and George makes a baby, and both times the authorities comes to take them away. Imagine how you would react to having 6 children removed from you, now imagine how Maggie and George reacts. It is a heartbreaking story, and sadly, a true one.
Ken Loach is a master of showing us how life really is. He doesn't want to sugarcoat anything, he just wants us to realize that these people are real, that they are our neighbours and friends, the people we pass on the street, see in the supermarket. He also wants to show us how wrong the system is (I think), and how little they care for the parents and, ultimately, the children. I mean, sure, if the kids were actually beaten or abused, they would need to be removed right away, but in this movie, there is no evidence to suggest that. So aren't the kids better off with their real parents? Throughout the movie, Maggie gets worse (only barely hanging on to her sanity), as the system strip her of all dignity, we even learn that she was abused as a kid, and placed at an institution.
You have to love a real life drama, to love this movie. There is no wonderland here to hide in, and even though the end suggests that Maggie and George finally got to keep three children (and become a family), there is no happy ending here. It is unbearable to watch at times, but only because the actors does a great job at making this seem real. Life can be unbearable.
Last words... don't be intimidated by the story. This is no action movie, but you'll definitely be the better person for watching it.
