Ladybird, Ladybird MPAA Rating: R Entertainment: +1 Content: -3

The winding streets of London is the setting for this true story of a woman who loses her four children to the state and periodically tries to get them back. If this sounds like a made- for-TV movie, you're not far off the track. After she loses her kids, Maggie (Crissy Rock) meets Jorge (Vladimir Vega) from Paraguay in a bar. Jorge becomes a calming influence in her turbulent life. She opens her heart to Jorge, telling him how she lost her children when their apartment burned down while she was at a nightclub. The state takes away her oldest, and when she attempts to run away with the rest of the children, they take them as well. As they grow closer, Jorge and Maggie start to think about having children of their own. They eventually have a daughter which the state promptly takes away, accompanied by the frenzied screams of Maggie. They then have another daughter which the state also takes away. Unless you enjoy watching a woman's life slowly disintegrate, let this Ladybird fly away - far away.

Supposedly, LADYBIRD, LADYBIRD is an expose of the harsh English welfare system. However, it is hard to sympathize with a mother more concerned with going to bars and having children outside of wedlock than caring for her children. Every time the police come to take another child away, Maggie goes into hysterics, throwing things and hitting anyone she can. The sordid melodrama is furthered by several scenes of violence, usually a husband beating up a wife. The first is Maggie's memory of her father beating and kicking her mother. Then, we see Maggie physically abused as her boyfriend punches and kicks her. Foul language is unrelenting and only adds to the grotesqueness of Maggie, who constantly has the f-word on her lips. She is a hardened, fallen woman whom we cannot even feel sympathy for. She is like the Samaritan woman but without the possibility of a Savior. Even her Spanish boyfriend cannot give her the peace and love she is looking for, though at least he tries. LADYBIRD, LADYBIRD is an unwitting commentary on the complete hopelessness of living without the God of Peace.

Preview Reviewer: Greg Wilson
Distributor: Samuel Goldwyn Co., 10203 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90067-6403