DEEP END OF THE OCEAN

 

THREE STARS -  CHALLENGING

 

 

       Occasionally we are confronted with a film that both touches us deeply and yet is frustrating in the choices it makes.  Rather than having the characters share deeply with one another or seek the counsel of a priest or therapist, director Ulu Grosbard has them struggle through a surreal set of events while emotionally and spiritually blind.

       Based on a novel by Jacquely Mitchard, the film explores the experiences of a family whose three-year-old toddler is kidnapped. Then, miraculously, they are reunited with him nine years later.

       The loss occurs when Beth Cappadora (Michelle Pfeiffer) attends her fifteenth high school reunion in Chicago.  Her husband, Pat (Treat Williams), is an ambitious restaurateur who stays home to work in Madison while Beth takes their three young children with her.   In the bustle of the hotel lobby, Beth loses her middle child.

       But the question inherent in the event is whether Pat also is responsible for the loss of his child, since he knows his wife is easily distracted and might have difficulty taking care of three young children in the big city.  We will never know, because we are not allowed to explore with him his own thoughts or feelings of guilt.  In fact, we are not even allowed to explore his controlled anger at Beth for losing their son.

       The same is true for Beth.  Although she asks her seven year old son Vincent (Cory Buck as a child and Jonathan Jackson as a teenager) to watch his younger brother, we never hear her even say the words that she left them or admits she is responsible for the loss.  Her guilt is suppressed in a predictable pit of depressive pain.

       This pattern of avoiding culpability is also present in Vincent’s life.  As a seven-year-old who is unfairly given the responsibility of protecting his toddling brother in a busy Chicago hotel, he carries a debilitating guilt about his behavior.  The family, steadfastly avoiding the obvious, never seeks help for Vincent and, instead, increasingly scapegoats him until his negative behavior eventually lands him in jail at the age of seventeen.

       When Pat first arrives in Chicago, he comes at the invitation of a police detective who makes the call when Beth cannot.  But Beth struggles not only in the communication of this tragedy, but also in any meaningful conversation with her husband.  The shallow nature of their relationship is a primary cause of the family’s pain.

       This failure to communicate is not limited only to the members of the family.  As is shown later in the film, the Cappadoras are a Roman Catholic family who celebrate the return of their son with a special church service.  Yet nowhere in the film does Beth or Pat go to their pastor for either comfort or counsel.  This is not only unlikely for a Christian family in such pain, it avoids the very conversations and struggles with guilt, blame, forgiveness, hope and faith which would have created an enduring film.

       The only guide they do accept is a Chicago detective named Candy Bliss (Whoopi Goldberg).  Rather than being an approachable and comforting friend, Detective Bliss is a person with so many of her own issues that she cannot even allow herself to be touched by Beth in a moment of need.

       The healthiest person within the film is the little lost boy himself, Ben (Michael McElroy).  With a courage and optimism that is first exhibited when he accidentally locks himself in a cedar chest during a game of hide-and-seek, Ben is able to reunite with his family with remarkable bravery.

       But it is not an easy adjustment.  Ben has become “Sam,” the deeply loved son of George Karras (John Kapelos).  Through a whole chain of events, which make up the suspense of the film, Ben’s life has become a wonderfully normal childhood under George’s loving care.  Now, Sam/Ben is torn from the only father he knows to be reunited with a family he only biologically resembles.

       This proves to be the final struggle of the film.  Out of love for her son, Beth decides that Sam/Ben should be allowed to return to George’s home.  Although Pat disagrees, her unilateral decision eventually allows Sam/Ben to become a true member of the family.

       “The Deep End of the Ocean” explores a fascinating set of events which would undermine the health of any family.  But the power of love, forgiveness and reconciliation in the face of tragedy are only superficially explored, leaving us longing for far more from the film.

 

 

(755 Words)

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