Losing Isaiah (1995)

Jessica Lange is a social worker who falls for an abandoned newborn and breaks all the rules by bringing him home. Halle Berry is the homeless druggie who dumped the baby. One of the film's best attributes is that it reveals everyone's perspective, though much of the story is told from Berry's point of view. Strung out on crack, Berry's character thinks nothing of hiding her baby in a cardboard box near a dumpster before going off for a fix. We watch Berry painfully pull herself up out of the gutter and make a life for herself. She embraces decency and sobriety and becomes the person she might have always been had her childhood been different. After Lange and her amiable spouse (David Strathairn) have formed strong family ties with this difficult child, they find themselves fighting to keep him when Berry decides she wants Isaiah back. Naomi Foner's clever script reveals a legal system that is as much a character in this painful story as the attorney (Samuel L. Jackson) who takes on the case pro bono. Though the film ultimately flounders under a hesitant ending, Lange is such a dynamo that this tragic story still comes recommended. --Rochelle O'Gorman Amazon.com

Heart-wrenching Loss

This movie is one of my favorites...one which I shared with foster parents in my professional capacity as a social worker.

We see the inevitable pull between birth mother and adoptive mother, cheering for each even as the tug nears its conclusion.

One of the downsides of this movie is the abrupt separation between the adoptive mother and the child. In my social worker capacity, I was able to orchestrate a more gradual reunification.

However, this is a movie and the drama depends upon the gut-wrenching loss.

Well worth the time and tears.

June 5, 2008

losing isaiah

is a powerful movie to watch and learn about love of a different race.. February 27, 2007

losing isaiah

Very nice heart touching story. Sadly there are also real stories like this one that don't normally have this happy ending, but the story does touch a lot of hearts. I enjoyed it. July 5, 2006

superb

Losing Isaiah Is the best from Hallie Berry. It is the best i have seen in a long long time. I wish ms.berry won an award for this film. ms.berry did well on this as crack addict trying to regain custody of her son. I like how she was tough to jessica lange and her husband. samuel l. jackson did well too as ms. berry's attorney. I didnt like jessica lange and her husband were nasty to ms.berry July 2, 2006

What's best for Isaiah?

Perhaps the biggest complaint I have with custody battles is that they are ultimately based around the selfishness of the adults involved, whether it be a battle between the child's mother and father, or between the biological parent(s) and the foster parent(s). "Losing Isaiah" is an example of a movie that uses this sad truth to tell a compelling story.

Normally, I'd be quick to write off someone like Halle Berry's character (a former crack addict who abandoned her baby in an alley) as someone unfit to raise this child. I'd also be uneasy about tearing Isaiah away from the only home he's ever known. Thankfully, this film does not end there.

After the courtroom decision is rendered, we see a much different Isaiah than the playful, cheerful child we first encountered. Did anyone bother to stop and ask him what he wanted? In an ideal world, someone would have. Unfortunately, we don't live in an ideal world, but at least we have people who (albeit a little slowly) realize this mistake in "Losing Isaiah." Were I to be given the assignment of filming a movie based around a custody battle, this is the kind of movie I would make. September 21, 2005

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