Well done, but I don't think the ending was realistic

Rating: 9/10 (22 June 2008)

It's refreshing to have people have the guts to do what's right. Patrick did do the right thing.
A person needs to know where they come from and to be with that family unless it is unhealthy to live with. Which in Amanda's case the mother wasn't good for her to live with. But the characters that tried to keep her in a healthy upbringing chose to do it unlawfully.
What I DO NOT UNDERSTAND is, where the heck are the social services? After Amanda came home the social services should have found out how drugged up the mother's past was and put her either with the mother's brother's wife (who obviously loved her) or Patrick or to a healthy loving adoptive parents. I really don't think the ending was realistic at all. It really bothers me. I really like the film, directing, acting, and what not but SERIOUSLY that ending is not realistic! Social services are better than that and I know they wouldn't have had Amanda with her mother if they new about the burns, the drugs, the money, the neglect. Patrick did the right thing. Those cops that kidnapped her were burnt out on their jobs, the mother's brother was confused and desperate, and the girlfriend wasn't thinking with her head but her emotions. It really bothers me to see a character that chooses right against higher power (cops) and against his girlfriend and gets a lousy outcome for doing so.
Again, the movie's ending is not realistic and therefore I cannot give it a 10 out of 10 as i would of liked. I just finished watching the movie, so i"m pretty passionate about what i saw. Patrick did right. And the movie should have been more realistic about the social services. If i missed something about the social services at the end that would answer my question, then my apologies and please let me know.l