Having just watched a film that reduced me to tears I felt the need to share it with others.
Just Ask My Children is a film which is based upon a true story about the lives of one seemingly picture perfect family; Scott and Brenda Kniffen and their two sons Brian and Brandon are the typical American family, they go out as a unit, play in the park like every other normal family anywhere.
But one day their lives are turned upside down…
Friends of the Kniffens are having problems with the wife's stepmother who is always trying to get custody of their daughters, they ask the Kniffens to be character witnesses for them and this leads to the stepmother bringing them into her accusations of mindless child abuse.
This leads to Brenda Kniffen being arrested at home with her sons watching whilst police tear their home apart looking for child pornography material, Brenda protests and has no idea why the police are there…they don't even seem to know she has children of her own, whom she has to waken and tell them they have to go with the policemen…the boys are understandably frightened. The police then go to pick up Scott
at his work - in front of all of his work colleagues. At no time during these arrests are their rights taken into consideration.
The film then goes on to tell how their sons were held in care, and manipulated into giving evidence against their parents. This really is a sickening tale of how a couple were wrongly accused and what they went through trying to prove their innocence throughout the trial that followed…and beyond.
I don't want to give away anything else but this gives you an idea of what to expect from this film. It is deeply moving, heartbreaking and very scary in that something like this could actually happen….although nowadays this would hopefully not occur with the new laws etc.
I felt mixed emotions throughout this film but the main one was sympathy for the Kniffens as it is apparent throughout that they are innocent, but not many believe them after all the "there's no smoke without fire" attitude of society means that people are guilty until proven innocent - sad but true! The people, who believed them though, mainly there parents, stuck by them through thick and thin. Shows what a strong family they were. I also felt very angry towards the people in authority by the way the boys were treated, 9 yr old Brandon and 6 yr old Brian were manipulated throughout by people who should have known better, if anyone abused these children it was them!
You really have to see this film to believe it..
The performances all round were 100% believable. Virginia Madsen puts in a stunning performance as Brenda Kniffen, you could actually believe she was her. And her co-star Jeffrey Nordling plays the part of Scott well too, although he is not as much an important aura in the film as Madsen is. The best performances in my opinion comes from the young actors who play the boys throughout the film I feel I must mention them as they all put 100% into their parts.
Ryan Wilson plays the young 6yr old Brian Kniffen to be replaced by Dan Byrd at 9yrs old, then by Gregory Smith at 16.
Brian was played by Cody Dorkin at 9 then by Scott Bailey from age 15. Even though the boys are played by different actors it's not as noticeable as I thought it would be, as the actors who they chose to play the older boys were very similar to that of the younger ones and could easily have been those boys changing as they grew…which I thought was a good bit of casting…nothing worse than having someone who looks completely different as it would have made it seem unreal.
The music in the film is a bit of a let down as with most films based on true stories, especially those from the Odyssey label. Mainly piano music, nothing sticks in my mind at all.
The special features on the film are a few trailers, one for the film you're watching and another couple of other true stories… Another is the "about the film" feature which is a brief description about the film, and the story it was based on. There is also a brief Star Biographies about the actors who appeared…nothing really that exciting in the features section to be honest.
There is also the option to use scene selection.
One thing I did like at the very end of the film as they were running the credits, they told us what the real Kniffens were all up to at present…always an interesting feature and one I would recommend you take the time to read through if you had an interest in the film.
Overall I would recommend you watch this film, if only to make you realise that not everything is as clear cut as it seems, you cannot always believe everything you see on the news, in the media, and in this day and era we should always give people the benefit of the doubt and not start a witch hunt as innocent people can be hurt in the process.
Other info The film is only 87 minutes long but it flows easily, it is available from Amazon from only 56p and probably from Ebay too.
Production Year: 2004 - Drama - Director: Nick Cassavetes - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over, 12 years and over - Starring: Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling, Gena Rowlands
Drama - Original Language: English - Classification: 12 years and over - Starring: Shelagh Fraser, Barbara Flynn, Keith Drinkel, Felicity Kendal, Pam Ferris, Colin Douglas
![Just Ask My Children [2001] [DVD]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/78542556.jpg "Just Ask My Children [2001] [DVD]")
![Just Ask My Children [DVD] [2001] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/87020039.jpg "Just Ask My Children [DVD] [2001] [Region 1] [US Import] [NTSC]")
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