Romania's oprhan crises opportunity missed
How totally disappointing was the documentary last night The Lost Orphan: Mirela's Story.
What could have been a brilliant film exposing the plight of abandoned children and how devastating the situation really is – ended up being a 53 minute self-serving drivel about Natalie Pinkham’s two dimensional emotional state. The diabolical script, obviously written in an attempt to flesh out the trite main character, was so abysmal that I struggled to stay watching the programme despite my passion for the subject. What struck me at every stage was how unintelligent Ms Pinkham was, and how little research had been done in the making of this programme. I could spend the next 20 minutes pulling apart the programme but I doubt that either you or me would be prepared to rehash the patronising, banal comments and pathetic looks into the camera. The most choking point for me, was when she asked this poor child, whose life has been stolen, for forgiveness – who does she think she is?
How unfortunate that Ms Pinkham couldn’t have remedied her ‘long and emotional ‘guilt trip, by actually making a programme about Mirela. Talking about her background; the reasons why she was there; what institutionalization does to children and why; how and why Mirela had she been so affected; was she really Ok when she was 2 years old; how the system had changed; what the future holds for her; the fate of others. She could have held a light into an unknown and horrific world.
Hope was hardly touched upon. A couple of comments were made about adoption – “We hope she has been adopted”, “Adoption would have been the best thing” and I became excited when she went to meet a domestically adopted teenager. That excitement was quickly dashed with the realisation that the facile interview was just another setting to show yet another fake emotion.
Shame on you Natalie – such an opportunity, such a chance to really make a difference. Instead you ignorantly chose an emotive issue only as a vehicle for your own vain reflection.
