Foster care is very serious business when it comes to the welfare of children and how they’re treated within the system. There are typically thousands of kids that need a good home, and many of them that might get placed, but miss out on the ‘good’ part. This particular story is one that’s based on the many stories that have been discovered concerning the abuse of foster children both in the system and in private homes where they’ve been placed. It also has been criticized for a few things such as the idea that one of the main characters, played by Matthew Modine, simply dismisses his client as a ‘thug’ based on the way he looks, but eventually comes to understand the young man and why he’s turned out the way he is. For his own part, Jamal, the young black man that is suing the foster care system, is reluctant to accept Modine as his lawyer, largely because he has massive trust issues that stem from those that were supposed to take care of him but allowed him to be abused, being white. If you couldn’t tell, color has a great deal of emphasis in many movies these days and whether it’s seen as a positive or a negative aspect in a movie or even a TV show is usually found in the intent of the project.
The idea with this particular story is that Jamal has been abused, his trust has been broken, and every positive experience he could have had in his childhood has been stripped from him by those that were supposed to be his caretakers. Using this to explain why some people become the way they are upon maturing into adulthood is unfortunately quite accurate since it’s not hard to see how a person can be stripped down to the bare essentials when it comes to emotion and how they can become cynical of just about anyone given their experiences early on in life. The problem with the movie at this point is that it’s being criticized since Modine’s character appears to be an uncaring and very privileged white man that might be seen as the white savior type or a racist depending on which part of the movie a person chooses to focus since his initial dismissal of Jamal as a thug is something that far too many people have done throughout history when speaking to those that possess a certain look. If anyone asks, it’s the poor attitude, the look that all but screams that someone believes they’re tough, that no one can break them, or that they don’t care if someone tries. It’s not really what a person wears, it’s how they act, how they think, and how they react to the world around them that gives this impression. Unfortunately, this act is also exhibited by those that have been harmed beyond any possibility of repair, and are ready to fight the world at any given moment.
Sadly, the foster care business is one that hides abuse all too well, as some people see these kids as cheap labor, or as an easy but demented form of amusement, or worse. One only needs to read a few statistics and personal stories to comprehend just how bad things can get, and why the foster care system is not perfect, even if it’s meant to give children a chance to experience a caring home. Jamal’s reluctance to accept Modine as his lawyer is obvious, but it’s also obvious that were he to represent himself in the movie that it would end very badly, since the people on the other side of the courtroom are more dangerous than Jamal could ever be, since they’re working with such a warped sense of morality as well as within the boundaries of the law, so far as the court knows, and are students of a cruel system that knows how to bend the rules and get away with it. This is the kind of system that Jamal and many kids like him don’t stand a chance against, and while he looks at Modine as though he’s the devil in the trailer, it’s often better to trust the devil that’s on your side and doesn’t like you than the devil who will smile as they use the law to punish you yet again. This movie is bound to gain a great deal of criticism for the use of a few themes that people might find troubling, but overall it looks like something that people should watch if only to get a better understanding of the foster care system. Who knows? The movie could motivate people to do a thorough check of the system on their own and see whether the kids that need a home are really being cared for, or if it’s true that they’re being treated as commodities.
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