A Child is Waiting (1963)
Written: Sep 24 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: script, direction, uncompromising story
Cons: depressing, a tough sit
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| BrianKoller's Full Review: Child is Waiting |
A Child is Waiting is the ultimate test for those who claim to prefer quality over entertainment. There's no doubt that it is a good (and perhaps even a very good) film. It's not for everyone, though. It's grim, depressing, uncomfortable and challenging. If your idea of a great movie is Stripes, Splash or Mission Impossible II, read no further.
A Child is Waiting is a black and white film about mentally retarded children, that raises more questions than it answers. What should their role be in society? How much of an effort should be made to train them, knowing that they will never approach the potential of more promising children? Should parents feel guilty because their child is retarded? Should the child stay at home, sheltered and 'safe'? Or should he or she make the painful efforts to be integrated into society, even if it only means a lifetime spent as a menial laborer such as a dishwasher?
It was not until the early 1960s that the culture awareness existed for a film such as A Child is Waiting to be made. Severely retarded people were previously commonly lobotomized, sterilized, and/or dumped into a sanitarium, where they were caged together like animals. They were regarded as freaks, to be kept alive but out of sight. Enlightenment was slow in coming that this was a genetic condition, rather than the fault of the children themselves or their parents. Even by 1963, the causes weren't fully known. German Measles during pregnancy or a failed delivery is theorized in the film's script, instead of having an unlucky extra chromosome.
Burt Lancaster and Judy Garland play teachers with opposing philosophies for training the children. Garland wants to smother the most promising of the children with love and attention. Lancaster wants to treat the children equally; encouraging them to achieve, but gently punishing them when they fail to make the effort. Lancaster's greater experience as a teacher eventually proves his ideology to be the better. A retarded child needs more than love. He or she also needs to be educated and trained for a role in society, as is the case with all children. Even a limited role can be a great achievement for a retarded person, and is a much preferable alternative to the empty tedium of institutionalization.
This was Garland's first appearance as a lead actress in nearly ten years, since A Star is Born (1954). She had a small role in Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), which like A Child is Waiting was produced by a sympathetic Stanley Kramer. Garland was nominated for Academy Awards for both A Star is Born and Judgment at Nuremberg, but she could not find work as an actress because of her emotional fragility and known dependence upon drugs and prescription pills.
She looks terrible in A Child is Waiting. She is overweight, her face is puffy, and she seems even more vulnerable than usual. But she does not have a glamour role, and her unhappy persona seems fitting for her character as a drifting spinster in search of meaning and employment. Garland's greatest talent was as a singer, but there's no room in the story for her to show off her overpowering voice. As for Lancaster, he plays another of his patented tough guys, but he's never been more sympathetic than he is here. Devoting your life to the education of retarded children is a thankless job that somebody has to do well.
Back stage gossip surrounds the film. Allegedly, there was a clash of egos between producer Stanley Kramer, director John Cassavetes, and leading man Burt Lancaster. All had their own ideas about where the film should go. Kramer usually directed films himself, and preferred to cast stars like Spencer Tracy who gave him a free hand. Lancaster was a legendary actor who had often helped to produce his own films. Cassavetes was noted for his uncompromising passion as a director, which may explain why his career was more successful as an actor.
Certainly A Child is Waiting could have been more entertaining, with an uplifting feel-good ending added to encourage its distribution. Thankfully, the film is what it is, an honest and accurate character study of how adults slowly learn to cope with the limitations of retarded children.
Gena Rowlands, the wife of director Cassavetes, has a small role as the mother of retarded child Reuben (Bruce Ritchey). Cassavetes has a cameo as one of the institutionalized retarded adults. Most of the children shown in the film were in fact retarded. However, lead child actor Bruce Ritchey was not retarded. (70/100)
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
BrianKoller
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Member: Brian Koller
Location: Plano, Texas
Reviews written: 873
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Conservative grades, but kinder and gentler reviews.
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