i went and saw this movie yesterday. it’s the new angelina jolie movie, i can’t stand angelina ho~lie, but the movie caught my interest because it is based on a true story. it’s quite unbelievable, 8 year old walter collins disappears one day, his mother reports him missing to the police. they bring a child home to her and when she tells them it’s not her son, they refuse to believe her. instead of just owning up to a simple mistake they coerce her into taking the child home and “trying him out.” when she still insist this is not her child they do everything to persuade her, trying to convince her he has shrunk due to the trauma he suffered, telling her she was a bad mother and was trying to shirk her duty, pass the boy off to the state so she can be a single girl and live the party life.
she took the child to the dentist and the doctor, even the child’s teacher and had written testimonies stating that this was not her son. when she went to the papers, the police captain had her thrown into an insane asylum to make her disappear and to shut her up. it didn’t work. unbelievable that this could happen in the united states, but it did. without giving away anymore of the story it was a very sobering movie. i definitely recommend seeing it. afterwards we went out to dinner, just mom and sharon and i. after a full weekend of family activity it was nice to head home to some quiet. (although not too quiet, pepper was very vocal when i pulled in the driveway. i think the birds ate all the extra food i had left out for her.)
