 |
Learning
Difficulties Major 
>
|
|
|
TITLE |
Bonds of Love (1992) (TV Film) |
|
DISABILITY |
Learning
Difficulty |
|
NOTES |
Set in the
State of Kansas |
|
Treat
Williams plays Robbie a man with learning difficulties. |
|
Dumped on
the road by his friends as a joke he's picked up by Rose (McGillis). |
|
Robbie lives
at home with his parents and his brother is a cop who thinks
he should be in a home. The parents have promised
never to put Robbie in an institution. He cuts lawns, rakes leaves
and has worked in a restaurant. Robbie tells his parents he
is in love. But Rose is considered a loose woman. |
|
she's has
two husbands, been a heavy drinker and Welfare |
|
have taken
her kids away. |
|
The cop
brother goes around and threatens her. She decides |
|
she has to
leave town, and Robbie wants to go with her. |
|
Rose's
excuses for her reputation are that her first husband |
|
drank and
beat the kids. She started drinking and married |
|
Having gone
away with Rose he misses his family, gets drunk and hits
her. He goes to the doctor who refers to him as "retarded"
which Robbie disagrees with. |
|
However the
two of them get a place of their own but the cops turn up with
a subpoena. Fortunately the neighbours turn out to help and
Robbie is saved from being wrongfully taken away. |
|
The brother
who has been abusing his authority petitions to be Robbie's
legal guardian. Robbie and Rose get legal aid to fight this. |
|
Robbie is
assessed as having an I.Q. of 58 and mild |
|
retardation.
His family have kept him from any kind of training. |
|
In court
given the choice of his brother, Rose or an |
|
independent
person as his guardian Robbie can't decide. |
|
Generally he
doesn't discriminate in his affection for people. |
|
While he can
stay with Rose for the time being the judge |
|
gives
guardianship to the brother orders that he go into an |
|
institution
for training. But Robbie is upset by having to mix with
'retarded' people.
I'm not convinced Rose is suitable for him. It is difficult to
understand her motives except that she is vunerable. She gives her
reasons which are that he is good to her and she loves him. But when
Robbie's affections are so indiscriminately sown you get the
impression he would ask the first woman he knew romantically to marry
him.
The cop brother turns up at their appartment and 'abducts' Robbie as
his guardian. But they get a hearing to challenge the guardianship.
Judge wants intelligence and psychological tests to see if Robbie
understands what marriage is. An initial condition is that he lives in
an institute. This place is clearly for severely disturbed patients
and Robbie becomes hysterical. Robbie's responses to questions appear
to suggest he is not capable of living independently or of normal
social relationships.
At a centre among (real) disabled people he shouts "I'm not retarded"
but later when they are the subject of abuse he helps them.
At the final court hearing the family accept the marriage and that
they can live together. While the brother claims he did what he did
because he loved Robbie.
This reconciliation is not quite convincing. The film does give a
viewer enough detail to decide what Robbie's capabilities are and you
are quite likely to disagree with my reservations. Both Williams and
McGillis are good in their parts and I would recommend this film as
good discussion material. |
|
Notes
|
|
