My Flesh and Blood (2003)

Thanks for the memories!

Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

I was on NetFlix and clicked on "My Flesh and Blood", expecting another uplifting story like "Who Are the DeBolts and Where Did They Get 19 Kids?" This is most assuredly not the DeBolts.Susan Tom is a lonely woman who seeks to fill the emptiness inside her with needy children. And while she's an apt physical caregiver, and seems able to provide a loving home for most of the children, two of them wind up utterly lost: Martha, upon whose slender shoulders Susan piles enormous burdens, and Joe, who struggles to find someplace in the world where he belongs.Martha, old beyond her 18 years, cries out to her mother for some understanding and is shut up even as she melts down. Joe, who for most of the film had been lashing out in impotent rage at everybody around him, took a quiet moment to express concern for his sister. Rather than nurture this attempt to connect, Susan shut him up. And he shut down. My prayers for Joe throughout the film proved to have come too late as he finally gave up and died, leaving Martha bereft of perhaps the only person in her life who could have understood her profound loneliness.I still pray for Martha, who may yet find a place in the world where there's room for her. All I can do for Joe is cry.

This film is so painful to watch, but you must. What an indictment of our society and how little we value children. It doesn't take a documentary in a third world country, when there is plenty of horrific child neglect in the richest country in the world. Why should Susan, the heroine of this story, a mother who adopted upwards of 13 significantly sick or disabled children, be such an anomaly? Such a curiosity? Why isn't the system giving her and her children every possible support and resource they need to make their lives livable? I will never be able to shake this story off, nor do I want to. Especially with the epidemic of childhood neuro- and immuno- disorders that have erupted over the last decade or so, thanks to the U.S. pharmaceutical industry and the CDC who cavalierly allowed mercury to be used to prolong the shelf life of the multitude of vaccines our children are required to have from their first hour of life.

This excellent documentary showcases the remarkable story of the Tom family. Many of the kids are seriously challenged physically or mentally and others are quite normal and somewhat perplexed at the stresses and strains of living together.The key is Susan Tom, Mom, who is nothing short of saintly in her commitment to the welfare of her brood and her dedication to their cause.This is quite the most moving film I have seen in years. The courage shown by her kids in coping with major daily life difficulties is just awesome. It puts our own daily frustrations and challenges into a real perspective compared to the Toms's.A must see film.

this documentary is so moving and both painful and heartwarming to watch. it shows you both the harshness of being human and what noble spirits humans are capable of having as well. the children in this documentary will move you deeply even if you have a heart of stone. i wish this was out already because i can't wait to see it again. it will remind you of what good there is in people before we get to where we shut each other out completely. if only we were capable of helping each other more.