God Bless the Child

Mare Winningham was one of the original Brat Pack but, apart from her Oscar-nominated turn in Georgia, she hasn't really realised her potential. However, she gives a truly moving performance in this superior TV movie as a woman who is forced to raise her daughter in a shelter for the homeless after she is abandoned by her husband. Grace Johnston excels as her gutsy seven-year-old, while Dorian Harewood is compassion itself as the social worker who befriends them. Director Larry Elikann is a past master of this sort of human interest drama and never allows sentiment to confuse the issue.