I especially enjoyed this film for several reasons. Having worked in the legal system for 6 years, I like seeing an accurate representation of how a case should be handled. Both sides have valid points. In addition, this made-for-TV movie reunited two excellent actors, Lee Remick and Albert Salmi, decades after their initial joint project, "Wild River". Together, they show young actors the way it's supposed to be done.
2 Reviews
Caring for others is the most wonderful gift there is.
mark.waltz15 December 2022
Warning: Spoilers
The marvelous Lee Remick gives an absolutely sensational performance as Jesse Malone, a real life nurse in the rural desert of California (hundreds of miles from any hospital or regular doctor outside the one who makes a visit one day a week by helicopter) set up for charges of practicing medicine without a license, and put on trial for crimes that the state pursues against her. She's got the support of the entire community, following her out to the closest ourt hundreds of miles away, with state bureaucrats not understanding at all the motivations for her actions. Remick and her husband Scott Wilson are at odds over her constantly getting up in the middle of the night, but when she can't save a young baby from a fire, he begins see her passion for what she does, something their teen son has always loved about his mom.
It's obvious who snitched on her, but that's a minor plot point. The point of the film is that in communities where regular medical help is not available, people must do what they can to help each other, and it takes a courageous woman, as well as a compassionate one with her own fears guiding her to do better with each case, to follow the dream that she has had all her life to eliminate human suffering as much as possible. There is no saintly halo over Remick as she is very stubborn, outspoken and sometimes a little scattered in being determined to do too much while neglecting her own life and sometimes her family. But she is someone that obviously the actress Remick felt passionate in playing, because the glow on the face she gives when describing her needs for helping others truly shows how much she believed in this story.
There is a lot to cheer for through the townsfolk and even the judge (whose look at the end of the film indicates what he felt about the case), and while the bureaucrats are certainly wrong in pursuing this case, their side is dealt with in a fully rounded way although the main bureaucrat is rather snarky in his defending his case and the attorney for the prosecution is rather ruthless. As the townsfolk become more supportive and vocal in their determination to see her vindicated, the look on Remick's face gains the confidence that was missing in the scene where she explains her individual fears. This is a triumphant movie in every way, a nod to the nursing profession that is a lot more than changing bedpans and taking temperatures, one that should be appreciated a lot more seriously.
It's obvious who snitched on her, but that's a minor plot point. The point of the film is that in communities where regular medical help is not available, people must do what they can to help each other, and it takes a courageous woman, as well as a compassionate one with her own fears guiding her to do better with each case, to follow the dream that she has had all her life to eliminate human suffering as much as possible. There is no saintly halo over Remick as she is very stubborn, outspoken and sometimes a little scattered in being determined to do too much while neglecting her own life and sometimes her family. But she is someone that obviously the actress Remick felt passionate in playing, because the glow on the face she gives when describing her needs for helping others truly shows how much she believed in this story.
There is a lot to cheer for through the townsfolk and even the judge (whose look at the end of the film indicates what he felt about the case), and while the bureaucrats are certainly wrong in pursuing this case, their side is dealt with in a fully rounded way although the main bureaucrat is rather snarky in his defending his case and the attorney for the prosecution is rather ruthless. As the townsfolk become more supportive and vocal in their determination to see her vindicated, the look on Remick's face gains the confidence that was missing in the scene where she explains her individual fears. This is a triumphant movie in every way, a nod to the nursing profession that is a lot more than changing bedpans and taking temperatures, one that should be appreciated a lot more seriously.
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