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Desperate Choices: To Save My Child

Name: Desperate Choices: To Save My Child
Director: Andy Tennant
Released: 1992
Duration: 100 min

Representation Score

3.9/10

Limited

1992

Director

Andy Tennant

Runtime

100 minutes

Average Rating

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New Showbiz Analysis

Desperate Choices: To Save My Child is a typical 1990s domestic drama centered on a traditional family structure. It explores serious ethical questions related to medical necessity and parental duties. The film highlights a life-threatening illness but lacks depth in representing various aspects of diversity. Instead, it upholds conventional social hierarchies and assumptions about family life. Overall, the movie emphasizes emotional impact and traditional moral viewpoints over showcasing diverse demographics or challenging societal norms.

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Category Breakdown

Does Desperate Choices: To Save My Child have LGBTQ+ representation?

Limited

The film focuses on a traditional family structure and does not include any LGBTQ+ characters or critiques of the assumption that everyone is straight or cisgender.

How does Desperate Choices: To Save My Child portray gender?

Fair

Cassie is the main character, but the story revolves around conflicts between adults, particularly the father and stepmother, highlighting power dynamics within the household.

How racially and ethnically diverse is Desperate Choices: To Save My Child?

Minimal

The story depicts a homogenous family unit with no mention of racial or ethnic diversity, following typical casting practices from the 1990s.

How does Desperate Choices: To Save My Child represent religion and culture?

Limited

The plot examines ethical issues through a Western perspective emphasizing the importance of family bonds and traditional parenting roles.

Does Desperate Choices: To Save My Child include disability representation?

Fair

Leukemia is the central issue, giving the main character significant prominence. However, the illness might be used to advance other characters' emotional journeys.

Present on Screen

Highlights a life-threatening illness through the main character.
Examines deep ethical questions about family duty and the value of life.

Limited or Absent

Does not include racial, ethnic, or LGBTQ+ diversity, maintaining a uniform demographic profile.
Uses the illness primarily to advance other characters' emotional journeys.
Supports traditional family structures and conventional power dynamics.

Official Synopsis

Sixteen-year-old Cassie Robbins is a spirited teenage girl, who loves her father Richard and stepmother Mel and dotes on her six-year-old half-brother Willy. But her carefree, happy life is forever changed when she is diagnosed with leukeamia and her only hope of a cure lies in a bone-marrow transplant. However, when Willy proves to be a match, Mel is not-so-willing to allow her young son to undergo surgery as he nearly died the last time he was operated on after reacting badly to the anaesthetic. Mel and Richard now have to decide if it right to risk the life of one of their children to save the life of the other child. And of Willy's own rights in deciding if he should help the sister he hero-worships...?

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