Khaila Richards (Halle Berry) is a drug addict who is addicted to crack cocaine. The film starts with her breastfeeding her baby in an abandoned squat. As she lays the child down to leave, the other squatters tell her that she can’t leave the baby there crying. Khaila takes the child outside and hides him in a box in the trash so that she can go get high.
She promises to come back, puts a board over the box, and leaves. The next morning, the trash is being collected and everything is thrown in the garbage truck, but at the last moment the workers see the baby lying in the box and the infant is taken to the hospital.
At the hospital, a social worker named Margaret Lewin (Jessica Lange), finds out that the baby was born addicted to crack cocaine and that his name is Isaiah. She develops a strong bond with him and decides to bring him home to live with her husband and daughter. In the meanwhile, Khaila wakes up and notices that her breasts are leaking milk but her baby is not there.
She runs to the garbage hysterical and starts rooting through the trash looking for Isaiah. An indigent comes out and tells her to leave saying that there had been enough ruckus that morning with police talking about dead babies. After realizing what has happened, she leaves. Later that night, she is arrested for shoplifting and enters a rehab program.
The film cuts to three years later and Isaiah has been officially adopted by the Lewins. Khaila is clean and rents a room in an apartment. She goes to a facility and meets her caseworker who is teaching her to read. While reading a book about a pregnant woman, she breaks down and confesses to her caseworker that she put her baby in the trash.
Director: Director: Stephen Gyllenhaal
Year of Release: 1995
Character to watch: Halle Berry as Khaila Richards.
Journal your answers to the following questions after you watch the movie.
- How does this particular character’s journey compare with yours?
- Did the character develop certain characteristics during the movie that you have or that you would like to have? If so, what are those characteristics?
- What obstacles did this character face? What was his or her biggest challenge?
- What would you have done differently if you had been in the same position as the character?
- Is this character the type of person you would be friends with? Why or why not?