Posted: 10/13/2002

White Oleander

(2002)

by Hank Yuloff

Heartbreaking drama of a child’s delivery into the foster care system.

Many times policemen try not to put a first time child offender into the system because it can damage their chances to become better citizens. Under the wrong conditions, to put a child into the foster care system can do the same thing. White Oleander follows one teenager’s tragic journey through a series of foster homes and institutions after her mother goes to prison for murder.

Alison Lohman (Pasadena—TV) plays Astrid Magnussen in a heart wrenching performance that almost made my “I don’t think so” wife want to foster a child (I guess being on the board of foster care agency Inner Circle isn’t always enough). Astrid has been put into this situation because her mother, Ingrid (Michelle Pfeiffer), killed her boyfriend in a fit of rage and passion. It is this passion… artistic passion driven to the point of insanity… that was the cause of all.

Astrid’s foster world begins with a trip to the trailer park. Her first foster mom, Starr, is Robin Wright Penn (The Pledge), a hypocritical bible thumping ex-stripper who ends up shooting her. At the other extreme is nurturing Claire Richards (Renee Zellweger—Bridget Jones’ Diary) who provides a whole other negative situation in Malibu. On one of the stops along the way, she finds a kindred spirit in Paul Trout (Patrick Fugit—the young writer in Almost Famous) who is in the system because his parents were druggies. Through him she realizes that the bond all the kids have is that their parents were messed up or gone.

But the story is about mother and daughter. Mother trying to exert control over her child’s life from prision. Daughter trying to grow up while dealing with the hatred caused by mother leaving her to this life.

One of the problems in the relationship seems to be caused by Ingrid’s treating Astrid as a friend before she went into jail and treating her as a child after. Sharing facts about your sex life (“He made love to me and then told me I had to leave because he had a date.”) and how to gain control over men just does not seem like responsible parenting… But having only raised two parents, I don’t feel I’m an expert.

White Oleander is a sad and thought-provoking movie for adults. The acting is compelling which is so often missing in the bang bang shoot ‘em ups we are most often fed by the entertainment machine. The anger behind Pheiffer’s character is easily felt—before the murder when she does not feel respected and after when she loses control of her life. Even the child actors brought an adult level to their acting—if only parents would bring that same level to their parenting responsibilities.

To help in her promotion of the movie actress Lohman spent time with Inner Circle to have a better idea of what these kids go through. If you would like more information, go to www.fosterfamily.org.

Hank Yuloff owns an ad specialty company in Los Angeles.

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