My Flesh and Blood

Starring:Anthony Tom, Xenia Tom, Faith Tom, Margaret Tom, Joe Tom, Susan Tom
Director: Jonathan Karsh
Studio: New Video Group
Product Type: DVD

Description

Winner of the Audience and Director's Awards at the Sundance Film Festival, the deeply affecting MY FLESH AND BLOOD follows one remarkable family's most tumultuous year as it confronts a litany of daily routines, celebrates life's small pleasures, and copes with major crises. Who says you can't choose your family? "I think when I found that I could survive raising four kids, that it wasn't that far of a leap to add another one," says Susan Tom of Fairfield, California, who has done more than just that, adopting 11 special needs children. For a single mother who receives only limited help from the state, Susan gives her kids love, hope, and as close to a normal childhood has possible. Her limits are tested, however, when her angry teenage son threatens one of his siblings. And after another child's condition becomes erratic, the entire family learns that living for the moment is the keystone to happiness. Tenderly directed by Jonathan Karsh, MY FLESH AND BLOOD presents a family portrait like no other--a bittersweet and unforgettable experience filled with unexpected humor, stirring pathos, and an optimistic view towards morality.

Customer Reviews:

hard to believe.......2007-01-25

Susan Tom is a divorced, single mother in California who after having two biological children adopted eleven handicapped children. This emotionally intense documentary film is not about a smiley Brady Bunch, but about a raucous household of children with serious and severe problems--mental, physical, emotional and medical. Faith was horribly disfigured in a fire as an infant. Xenia was born with no legs. Teenager Joe is a deeply angry and explosive child who threatens to kill Xenia; he eventually dies from Cystic Fibrosis. Others are mentally retarded. Susan describes herself as "fat but interesting." Both adjectives understate the case. She does not work outside the home, but instead supports everyone, and her $600 a week grocery bill, from SSI income. Margaret, age 18, is unwillingly conscripted to help make it all work, and breaks down in screams to get her mother's attention. Perhaps the mark of a fine film is that in watching it you think far more about its subjects than about how they are portrayed. My Flesh and Blood won the Audience Documentary Award at the 2003 Sundance festival.

a good look at an unbelievable situation.......2007-01-16

This is an excellent, well made documentary. I like documentaries because in real life, we don't get the binary good-person/bad-person thing we do in fiction. Watching this movie, you see good things and bad things in all of the characters and in the living situation in which they find themselves. I couldn't help but be drawn into this documentary, and would recommend it to anyone with interest in adoption, family dynamics, individuals with special needs, or just looking for a good movie.

My Flesh and Blood- Anthony Tom.......2007-01-06

One of the best documentaries I have ever seen. A family composed of a mother and thirteen children, eleven of them adopted, is followed for a year of their lives in such a way that each child can be appreciated as an individual, without disabilities or other special needs overshadowing the person. The extra features are excellent, too, especially the discussion between the filmmaker and the mother.

My Flesh & Blood.......2007-01-03

Really great movie and it was from a real life experience so I enjoyed it even more. It is amazing what some people go through and still maintain their sanity as well as never giving up on people.

Worth watching, but..........2006-12-31

This is an interesting and worthwhile movie, but it's incomplete. Margaret was left hanging at the end as we're left to wonder about her and her situation which makes the movie somewhat of a disappointment. One can't help but be a little skeptical about Susan's dedication to all her children when she so abruptly brushes Margaret off at a point when she's so obviously in need of some crucial emotional support. The extras give us a cursory explanation of this by the director, but Ben's comments lend insight of another sort.

The director dropped the ball by not following up on Margaret.

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