...First Do No Harm (1997)
When Lori Reimuller learns that her young son Robbie has epilepsy, she first trusts the judgment of the hospital staff in how best to bring it under control. As Robbie's health slides radically downhill, however, she becomes frustrated and desperate, and so does her own research into the existing literature on treatments. When she decides to try an alternative treatment called the Ketogenic Diet, devised long ago by a doctor from Johns Hopkins, she is met with narrow-minded resistance from Robbie's doctor, who is prepared to take legal action to prevent Lori from removing him from the hospital.
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What a waste of my time!!!
Good start, but then it gets ruined
I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible
At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.
Initially when I saw this movie on Amazon I was skeptical of buying it, I thought it would be that sort of a lame family struggle film, however this is not the case.When her son is diagnosed with epilepsy, Lori Reimuller (Meryl Streep), tries to deal with it, taking every measure that she can. After researching epilepsy she discovers the ketogenic diet, a miracle cure? or a unfounded treatment that is a pipe dream? This is a terrific film with wonderful performances from all, I would recommend this film to anyone who has or knows of someone with epilepsy. I myself had it (although this was a mild form that I grew out of). I was never aware of the ketogenic diet.While I could go on about this film more, simply put it was a must see for everybody, not just for the ketogenic diet but also for awareness of epilepsy in general.
This movie was really bad.Meryl Streep walked through her lines. It is the only POOR performance I have ever seen her give. She was forgettable.Other characters were worse. Everyone except the small boy was pitiful. He did the best job of anyone, including Streep.When I rented this movie, I did not know it was made for TV. After I watched it, I could easily tell. There was essentially no character development and parts were at best "walk-throughs". What a pity to waste all the actors' and actresses' time on such folly. I would absolutely NOT watch this again, nor would I recommend it to anyone but a sworn enemy.I have seen worse movies, but not many.
Meryl Streep took a break from feature films for a rare TV movie role, while Jim (Airplane!) Abrahams took a break from wacky comedies, to tell this extraordinary story of a family that must take its health care into its own hands when the medical complex is failing them - after losing almost everything. Their son seems to have a variety of epilepsy that's tragically difficult to diagnose and treat.Many have lost family members because they didn't have the strength and courage to challenge their doctors' biases before it was too late. So this true story is an important vaccine for people who need to take back responsibility for their families' health. It's a stark contrast and partial antidote to thousands of made-up movie and TV medical stories.Streep, Fred Ward and the rest of the cast are superb. Allison Janney is perfectly cast as the doctor, because in real life the 'bad guys' are often smart, attractive, and certain they're doing the right thing.
The movie moved and touched my soul to see a youth being treated and healed in a good way from epilepsy. I have had seizures since the age of 2 from being hit by a car and now I'm 25. I am currently on medication since I was 18 and only had one seizure due to stopping my medication once, otherwise medication is controlling them but not getting totally rid of the seizures. My parents never treated me in any kind of way for my condition, they just let me have seizures. I feel so scared and helpless that the diet may not work for me after all these years. Wish I had the help and support, I just leave it all up to God. God BlessJacklyn Wells