Reviews
Children of the Dark (1994)
Sunlight is vital to life but owing to the complexity of human genetics, it can also be dangerous to some people so much so that one has to literally live in the dark. The TV movie Children of the Dark (1994), directed by Michael Switzer, features the true story of a family with two of their children suffering from a rare condition that forces them to keep the siblings indoors around the clock.
The life of a working class Illinois couple Jim and Kim Harrison (played by Peter Horton and Tracy Pollan) is suddenly thrown into a crisis when their young daughters Jamie and Sherry (played by Lindsey Haun & Annalise Ashdown) are diagnosed with the rare genetic disorder Xeroderma pigmentosum (XP). The condition makes the children extremely sensitive to sunlight, making them unable to be outside.
Screenshot @ YouTube
As the family struggles to find a solution, they are faced with challenges that go beyond the medical side of the crisis. Children of the Dark explores these issues, particularly the negative reaction from less tolerant people in the community that stigmatizes the medical need of the girls to stay homebound with windows and doors covered against sunlight. Some people even attack the family’s house to drive them out of their neighborhood.
The movie also shines light on the stress the couple’s marriage suffers because of their psychological crisis stemming from the worries for their children. One key aspect of this crisis is the natural tendency of the parents to feel guilty and take blame for the suffering of their daughters. At the same time, the remaining healthy child in the family (who is from the mother’s previous marriage) is affected psychologically by the entire situation as he cares for his siblings and misreads the emotions of his parents.
Children of the Dark is an important movie with high educational value and a healthy dose of motivation for not giving up no matter how difficult things get but to have faith and hope in one another and the good people out there. It’s one of the movies you wish every theatre and classroom would play for viewers across generations.
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