Losing Isaiah

Khaila is addicted to crack. One night she leaves her baby in a dumpster and walks away; the child narrowly escapes being crushed by a garbage truck the next day and is rushed to hospital. His addiction from birth comes out too. The social worker Margaret takes pity on him, then adopts him. Years pass. Khaila is out of rehabilitation, clean, and works as a housekeeper for a family. One day she learns her son is alive. She asks the lawyer Kadar Lewis for help and files a case to get custody back. Stephen Gyllenhaal directs. The film is adapted from a novel by Seth Margolis. Halle Berry plays Khaila and Jessica Lange plays Margaret. David Strathairn and Samuel L. Jackson are in the cast. It is an American production. The film states openly that it was inspired by real custody cases. The matter it treats is the right to motherhood; the film does not try to put either woman in the right. Halle Berry plays the character both before and after her addiction, and the part brought her serious recognition at the time. The film discusses transracial adoption directly. The narrative gives the courtroom scenes at length and lets both sides' lawyers speak. The child's own view is given in short scenes. The film builds no one sided outcome and leaves the viewer uncomfortable. The ending offers a resolution that does not satisfy. Its limit is balance; the narrative slides into melodrama in places and some dialogue tries to deliver a message. Who it is for: viewers who like family drama and courtroom films. Who it is not for: it is melodramatic, the subject heavy, and the ending contested.