Losing Isaiah (1995)

This is an amazing film and worth every moment in watching. The child actor in this film was PHENOMENAL!! And possibly up-staged the two women (well know stars and actresses) The film would not stand on its own without the child.Great story and true to life

For years, we have grown so accustomed to the courtroom dramas which plays one side as hero and one as villain, it seems sometimes there's no other kind. The movie Losing Isaiah is another kind. This tale of a custody fight between a child's birth mother " Halle Berry" and the family that adopted him " Jessica lange and David Strathair" is a clash of two rights, two goods, honorable people with competing yet compellingly valid attachments to one child played by Marc John Jeffries. As such, it pulls at us in ways those rote Good Guy vs. Bad Guy dramas can't. The birth mother is poor, single, black; the adopters are well-off, married, white. Originally based on a novel, Losing Isaiah is a touching and at times heart wrenching drama that asks the question, 'who or what makes a good loving mother?'' and whether or not they can provide for the child, not on a financial level but on an emotional one, irrespective of the color of their skin. I was impressed by this film. Though very televisual like as if I am watching some lifetime movie in its presentation, the performances elevate it above ‘issue of the week’ TV movie status into something more pertinent and memorable. I really love this movie and yeah, I shed a few tears...who am I kidding, I was bawling like a baby! A beautifully done film with an amazing cast.

This movie was good but sad. It's horrible to take the kid away from his real mom and put him with the egg donor. I think if a case like this happened today the egg donor would have never gotten custody because what makes someone the rightful mom is being redefined now. I see Hale Berry as nothing more than the egg donor in this movie. It's like how today many women with bad eggs because of age or whatever will go to an egg bank where women donated eggs, and have a child that way. When this movie was made that technology didn't exist but today it does. I remember a story on youtube about a white Christian couple who couldn't have kids so they went to an egg bank for donated eggs and when they asked what race of eggs they wanted they deliberately said they wanted African American eggs. So they used the husband's sperm and the donated eggs and the woman gave birth to kids who looked black but they were the rightful parents. So kids you see with parents where the races don't match does not always mean they were adopted anymore. So what makes someone the rightful mom has been redefined now. So I see Hale Berry as just the egg donor. The white couple who raised him from infancy are the real and rightful parents. Race means nothing. There's only one race anyway, the human race.

I love this movie

As soon as the movie began I was touched by the passion of this one. The helicopter circled above the ghetto with a bluesy trumpet and there came a woman's singing, only it sounded like suffering and agony. Then there was Khaila with her baby. Halle Berry didn't act like Khaila, she became Khaila. A crack addict Khaila did the unspeakable act of leaving her baby in a box in the garbage. Later she is arrested as she staggered along in the grocery with one eyebrow raised, shoplifting and looking for all the world like she was drugged. Amazing acting by Berry.Without Khaila's knowing her baby is saved from the hydraulics of the garbage truck.Isaiah meet Margaret. Mrs. Lewin was probably coached to be dramatic in the ER to be as pushy as possible but she comes off a nasty coworker mouthing off at doctors, cussing out judges and generally being difficult. I was put off by her office bully behavior. Coached or not I thought it was lousy work. But she and the family adopt Isaiah, a crack baby. Things get rough for the Lewin's but they stay with it and have the little boy for four years.Khaila meanwhile out of guilt and a need to change her life has gone into rehab, learns to read, and she grieves hard. She cannot escape and doesn't seem to want to. She wants to feel the loss of her child and it comes out in tears at every turn.Eventually her teacher learns Isaiah is not dead. And the main focus of the story begins. Khaila gets with a headstrong effective Lawyer and the Lewins hire a black lawyer and a custody hearing begins. Race is a loose cannon in the courtroom, in the bathroom, on the sidewalk. And it is race that is a stake. No one has a grudge against a member of the courtroom. But the most painful questions of the movie come out in determining the fate of a four year old African American boy,Good film. GJ

One of my favorites which I couldn’t find anywhere

The media could not be loaded.  He found him good home

This is a very good film but it does has some racial phrases. I've seen black people have white children or vice versa. Tell me what's wrong with that? Drug addict Khaila puts her baby Isaiah in a trash bin, as a garbage men saw the baby and the paramedic took him to the hospital. Nurse Margaret raised him while Khaila is in rehab. Nearly 3 years later Khaila fights in court to get her son back. The lawyers says some racial phrases and their past to blind them. Khaila gets her son Isaiah but having trouble, so she called Isaiah's adopted mother Margaret come to help. In the eyes of a child Isaiah should've stayed with his adopted mother while Khaila visits by a weekly basis to get know her biological son Isaiah. That should've happened. Great performances and roles by Halle Berry, Jessica Lange, David Strathairn, Cuba Gooding Jr. & Samuel L. Jackson. Highly recommended.

La storia è commovente, chi ha provato l’adozione ne sa qualcosa

Bof. Jeu d'acteurs excellents mais je n'ai pas réellement accrochée à ce film. On reste sur sa faim. Quant à la fin du film, je m'attendais à plus de force et de profondeur. Pour ma part, le film manque de profondeur tout au long de la projection.

This 1995 emotional drama tells the fictional story of Khaila Richards (Halle Berry) a no hoper drug addict who goes in search of her next ‘fix’ cradling her crying newborn son in her arms. She places him in a box, promising to return, as she prostitutes herself for her drugs. Awakening the following morning, the rubbish and the baby have gone and unknown to her has been rescued and taken to a hospital where social worker Margaret Lewin (Jessica Lange) and her husband end up adopting the child. Three years later, Khaila has ‘straightened ‘ herself out and now wants custody of the child.This is a highly entertaining movie, well acted by the two leading ladies and Isaiah [Marc John Jefferies], nice photography, decent settings and well developed characters. The issue is it’s self racism as it strives for political correctness.*****************************************************************************POSSIBLE SPOILER; The main problem is that the court case focuses on a sole point –should people be allowed adopt a child of different colour/racial background? This is summed up by Khaila’ lawyer “..black babies should be with black mothers!” and whether the white family read books about black characters in order for Isaiah to understand his roots [lose a *].******************************************************The ending seemed obvious, long before it came so I’d already become detached from most of the emotional court case and the ending just seemed a cop out and left lots of loose ends to the story, [lose another *]. Despite the flaws this is an emotional ride as we loath Khaila at the start but sympathise with her plight after her ‘recovery’ and it is so easy to be swept along by it all, but it’s not quite a ****, but almost.

I have a major girl crush on Halle berry but I think in a lot of her films she tends to over act so therefore in my opinion she isn't the most amazing actress in a lot of other films I have seen her in. But she is brilliant in this 1! I think it's 1 of her best performances! This and frankie and Alice are the best films she's done

My mum recommended this movie and am so glad I bought it Halle berry plays an Oscar winning performance in this film about a crack head mother who dumps her baby to score more drugs.she presumes he's dead only to find out few years later he's very much alive and living with a social worker and her family. She decided to give up drugs and try to get him back that's all I'm saying u will have to watch it to find out what happens very good film highly recommended!! :)