Not-So-’Good-Mother’
Congratulations to Mimi Avins for her biting commentary on “The Good Mother” (“Selling Out for the Sake of Expediency,” Nov. 20), which accurately sums up our judicial system.
In society, as was demonstrated in the movie, reality is reality and courtroom reality is fantasy, where attorneys advise their clients to perjure themselves on the stand and where a single person issues a decision affecting the lives of people he’s never met.
What seemed a movie championing the emotional liberation of the protagonist, played by Diane Keaton, was in the end a message to all about where the real power lies: A jealous ex-husband (also an attorney) finds a way to use the courts to ruin the life of his ex-wife and to steal her daughter.
As Avins argues, this was not a movie about child molestation, but one about real legal injustice! Moreover, the film’s conclusion absolutely clarifies its moral stance.
The scary thought is imagining that Avins and I were the only ones outraged as we left the theater.
GLENN CADDICK
La Mirada
Only good movies
Get the Indie Focus newsletter, Mark Olsen's weekly guide to the world of cinema.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
