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When Parents Don’t Get Their Dream Child


Sundance Selects and Participant Media present Far from the Tree: A Film by Rachel Dretzin. Opening in theaters and VOD July 20, 2018.

By Kyle Smith

In the moving documentary Far from the Tree, we meet several families in which the children turned out very differently from how their parents imagined. Autism, dwarfism, homosexuality, Down Syndrome: The mothers and fathers seen here weren’t expecting any of these conditions. One set of parents interviewed has had to come to grips with knowing that their son is murderer. Yet all of them adapted, and the film is stirringly humane.

It may not be the case that any challenge can be overcome, but without ever confronting the matter directly, the film is pro-life. Appreciation of the diversity of human experience begins with accepting that, imperfect as each of us is, all of our lives have value.

(To read the full review, please visit the National Review..)