MovieName: White
Oleander
MovieRate: PG-13
ViewerAge:
Adoption Content:
excerpt from newspaper review:
"melodramatic..soap opera..when a teenager is shipped to
series of foster homes, isn't it a little unlikely that each home
would play like an entertaining episode of a miniseries? First
you get a sexy foster mom who was "an alcoholic, a cokehead
and dancing topless - then was saved by Jesus," although
she still dresses like an off-duty stripper. Then you get an actress
who lives in a beach house in Malibu, and you become her best
friend. Then you get a Russian capitalist who dresses like a gypsy,
uses her foster kids as dumpster=divers, and runs a stall at the
Venice Beach flea market. Aren't there any foster mothers who
are old, tired, a little mean, and doing it for the money?
Tone:
rated 2 1/2 stars out of 4
Comments:
touching performances by cast but they deserve a better screenplay.
Recommendation:
None given
MovieName: White
Oleander
MovieRate: PG-13
ViewerAge: Mature
Teen
Adoption Content:
This is the story of a teenager
who ends up in a series of foster homes when her unconventional
artist mother is convicted of murdering her boyfriend. The foster
mothers in each of the homes are seriously emotionally flawed
and unable to provide appropriate care. Foster fathers are basically
absent, uninvolved, or inappropriate.
Tone:
The movie makes it appear that the
only families involved in foster care are doing it either for
the money or to fill their own emotional needs.
Comments:
The book the movie was based on was an Oprah pick. The story is of triumph over tremendous odds.
Recommendation:
If you aren't expecting a sentimental journey where foster care is shown as a positive force in the child's life, the movie is well-cast, the acting is excellent and the story is gripping.
MovieName: White
Oleander
MovieRate: PG-13
ViewerAge: 13+
Adoption Content:
Foster care; emotional enmeshment
with unhealthy biological parent; fear of attachment to new parents;
loss of people she cares about
Tone:
The girl experiences a number of very dysfunctional foster homes, including being shot by one of her foster moms because of jealousy, and being beaten up in a group home where she then is placed. She finally is placed with a foster mom who she connects with, wants to stay with, and begins to let herself love; only to have the foster mom kill herself -- while sleeping together in the same bed. Eventually she connects with a young man she met in the group home and they begin to build a life together. She never experiences a healthy parent-child relationship, only dysfunctional relationships that hinder rather than help her.
Comments:
I think this movie has potential to do great harm to children who've suffered broken attachments. If a child now living in his/her original home sees the movie and subsequently enters foster care, his/her fears certainly would be multiplied exponentially by having seen this.
Recommendation:
I'd recommend staying away. The movie is depressing and tragic; it depicts foster families in a very negative light (I know there are dysfunctional foster homes, but have you ever even heard of a foster mom shooting one of her foster kids???) and also paints an extremely negative stereotype about Christian people (the foster mom who ends up shooting the girl is a talk-about-it-all-the-time-supposed-Christian). If there was anything helpful in this movie, I missed what it was.
MovieName: White
Oleander
MovieRate: PG-13
ViewerAge: 13
and above
Adoption Content:
foster care issues/emotional abandonment
by birthmom
Tone:
negative - shines a false light on some foster homes. It makes them all out to be emotionally/spiritually/physically unavailable or dependent on the foster child to make foster mom feel better about herself. It also implies, but does not show, sex between a 14-15 yr. old foster daughter and foster father.
Comments:
I enjoyed the movie but feel Hollywood has put their slant on the screenplay which doesn't ring true to life from my experience of being a foster parent.
Recommendation:
Interesting, compelling acting - I would recommend it for viewing by older teenagers and above.