THE DEEP END OF THE OCEAN

REVIEWED BY CHARITY BISHOP

Our rating: 3 out of 5

Because of: harsh abuse of deity

Rated:

I first saw Michelle Pfeiffer in LadyHawke, and fell in love with the woman's soft voice, energy-flowing movements, and impressionable face. Since then she has been in a number of roles, moving gracefully from one to the next, never playing the same stereotype twice and proving herself to be a very versatile actress. The Deep End of the Ocean may be her most compelling and dramatic performance yet. It calls for laughter, tears, tension, and true heart... and Pfeiffer delivers well.

Beth is the happy mother of three delightful children, Vincent, Ben, and Kerry. She has a warm and loving husband, a nice home, and enjoys her job as a first-class photographer for expensive magazines. But she's about to enter into every parent's worst nightmare. During a trip to Chicago for a class reunion, she leaves Vincent and Ben beside a luggage cart, cautioning for Vincent to keep an eye on his little brother while she goes and pays for their room. When she returns, Ben is nowhere in sight. Vincent doesn't know what happened to him and after a swift search of the hotel lobby, Beth becomes frantic. One of her old-time friends' husband works for the local police department and calls in the best detective in the business, Candy Bliss. The warm-hearted woman befriends Beth, but there's little they can do. Minutes turn into hours, hours into days... in the midst of an emotional breakdown, Beth believes she will never see her son again.

Sending the children home with their father, she remains at her mother-in-law's house to wait for news... any news. But it never comes. The search begins to trail off, the volunteers return to their own lives, the television reporters go on to other cases. Candy encourages her to return to her life at home. But things can never be the same. Beth returns to her family emotionally distant and overly depressed. She forgets to pick up her son at school. She throws away all of her pictures and photography paper. Her husband is now the single provider for the home, juggling business, a shattered family, and two small children while attempting to maintain some sense of financial security. After an angry eruption over the volatile situation with relatives at Christmas, Beth is forced to return to the real world. 

Slowly she begins to work and starts paying attention to the kids. Dealing with reality, the family slowly begins to grow together again... but an emotion-packed revelation may shatter this glass house in which they live. Moving to Chicago, a new home, a new neighborhood, a new life, has brought someone into their lives. A young neighbor boy named Sam. He bears a striking resemblance to the enhanced photographs that the police department have put together. He's the same age. And he has no recollection of ever living with anyone except his dad. Could this be their son? And if it is, will they risk everything to try and piece together a past that may be best left alone? 

It's a thin line that the story walks, somewhere in between emotional overdrive and the cold truth of reality. The Deep End of the Ocean portrays very realistically the way in which many situations like this one happen. A mother turns her back for a mere moment... and her child is stolen away. For those of us who are mothers or ever intend to be, we can relate heavily to the shock, anger, self-retribution and terror that strikes a mother's heart. The emotional strain can often destroy a family, creating tension between siblings who feel responsible, and parents who blame one another for ever allowing it to happen. Fortunately this film has a happy ending and paints valuable lessons in forgiveness, acceptance, and sacrifice.

Profanity litters the three-hour screenplay, ranging from two abuses of the f-word to many minor profanities and shocking abuse of Jesus' name. The fact that the family is shown praying and attending church on occasion make this a mockery of their Catholic faith. Mom is usually the offender, but a teenage Vincent tosses around the all-empowering name of the Savior, along with other slang terms, with reckless abandon. It really is too bad, because otherwise the film is largely devoid of objectionable content, although there are a few minor moral hiccups.

Candy reveals to Beth that she's gay... and then it's never mentioned again. Pat comes on romantically to his wife in the kitchen, which leads to some mildly salty dialogue but ends in an argument. An adult Vincent blames himself for Ben's kidnapping and takes a few drinks. It's implied that he hot-wires someone's car and totals it. The language puts a damper on an otherwise thought-provoking film that tugs at your emotions and reminds viewers of an adult-oriented version of The Face on the Milk Carton. If it ever shows again on a local channel, edited for language, you may well find this a somber but meaningful ride.