Saturday, August 28, 2010
The Cure
Two mothers attempting to raise sons with absent fathers but there the comparison ends. One a chain-smoking red-neck with a resentful boy whose father is in New Orleans chasing a trollop; the other a long suffering single-parent caring for an eleven-year-old dying of AIDS acquired from a blood transfusion. What’s remarkable is the fact that the two boys meet over their backyard fence and strike up an unlikely friendship. The older boy is too much an outsider and too devil-may-care to be bothered by what the neighbours or his mother may think or what the risks may be. Together they embark on a summer of adventures playing with their action figures, battleship, raiding the candy store, searching out herbal cures, floating down the local stream in an inner tube and riding the streets in a shopping cart and eventually floating down the Mississippi a la Huckleberry Finn.
The marvel is that Dexter’s Mother is able to swallow her qualms about the dangers and exploitation that Erik poses and recognize his ability to divert her son’s attention from the grim realities of a life-threatening disease and allow him to concentrate on being a boy again for one more magic summer. Her ability to let go and grant his freedom to a gravely ill little boy when she knows he may be doing things injurious to his health, to share those last precious days of his all-to-short life with a stranger, to allow a child to have fun rather then be a patient; set her apart from most parents. Even during his final illness in hospital she drives Erik to the hospital where the boys play games with Dexter hooked up to monitors and intervenus drips. It is Erik’s ability to ignore the gravity of the situation and find fun with his sick friend that moves his Mother to allow them these last precious moments together without her hovering over them. They even make a game of scaring the wits out of hospital staff with the fact that Dexter may have stopped breathing until one day it proves to be an all too real.
Their drive home from the hospital that day has a unique poignancy. It is the joy this pair of boys share in each other’s company that raises this above the disease of the week movie status. Dexter’s mother’s ability to welcome a stranger into her home, feed him on a regular basis, and put up with his bad hygiene, manners, and boorish behaviour without being judgemental or overtly critical for the sake of her son’s mental well-being give her a near sainty status. In their final scene together at the funeral home she invites Erik to drop by as their shared experience will help fill the void in both their lives.
The marvel is that Dexter’s Mother is able to swallow her qualms about the dangers and exploitation that Erik poses and recognize his ability to divert her son’s attention from the grim realities of a life-threatening disease and allow him to concentrate on being a boy again for one more magic summer. Her ability to let go and grant his freedom to a gravely ill little boy when she knows he may be doing things injurious to his health, to share those last precious days of his all-to-short life with a stranger, to allow a child to have fun rather then be a patient; set her apart from most parents. Even during his final illness in hospital she drives Erik to the hospital where the boys play games with Dexter hooked up to monitors and intervenus drips. It is Erik’s ability to ignore the gravity of the situation and find fun with his sick friend that moves his Mother to allow them these last precious moments together without her hovering over them. They even make a game of scaring the wits out of hospital staff with the fact that Dexter may have stopped breathing until one day it proves to be an all too real.
Their drive home from the hospital that day has a unique poignancy. It is the joy this pair of boys share in each other’s company that raises this above the disease of the week movie status. Dexter’s mother’s ability to welcome a stranger into her home, feed him on a regular basis, and put up with his bad hygiene, manners, and boorish behaviour without being judgemental or overtly critical for the sake of her son’s mental well-being give her a near sainty status. In their final scene together at the funeral home she invites Erik to drop by as their shared experience will help fill the void in both their lives.
# posted by garthmailman@gmail.com @ 3:05 pm 
