Product: NOVA: Secret of the Wild Child (1994)
Rating: 5.0
an unbelievable story even though it's all true
This episode of Nova fascinated me and I think it will captivate most viewers. The story is of a real case; a young girl is rescued by social workers when she is 13; she has been brutally kept in solitary confinement by her father since she was 2 years old when he found out she may have been slightly developmentally disabled. The story tugged at my heartstrings and moved me deeply. Although the film is scarcely one hour long, Nova packs quite a bit into it and thus the story never gets boring nor is there anything to be edited out of this film. I also like how they mix archival footage of "Genie," with more recent interviews and the narration.The film begins with the discovery of a girl who is called "Genie" to protect her identity. Unfortunately, not much more about this poor girl gets protected. She had been imprisoned for over a decade by her viciously abusive father in a small back room of her parents' home in California, chained to a potty chair with no real human interaction. Apparently when her father would give her what little she had to eat he would actually bark or growl at her instead of using words! Worse yet, she was beaten for vocalizing or trying to say anything; she learned early on not to open her mouth for fear of being beaten. In addition, "Genie" had an odd way of walking that they described as a "bunny hop" type of walk most likely because of her inability to learn to walk normally when she was much younger. We'll never know the full extent of what the poor girl endured because her father killed himself just days after she was discovered and her mother was nearly blind and quite emotionally unstable.And all of that got the ball rolling. "Genie" was taken to Children's Hospital where all of the staff wanted to help her; yet I think they were so unprepared for her case that they didn't truly think through the best way to handle her. For example, some scientists also functioned as therapeutic surrogate parents and bonded with her; this was not a good idea. Researchers and scientists, sensing an opportunity to make their mark in scientific history, wanted to experiment on "Genie" to determine a number of things including whether she could learn language when she was already 13 or 14 and even the best of them cruelly abandoned her when federal funding to study and heal her dried up.I could tell you so much more but I don't want to ruin it for you with spoilers. Suffice it to say that you'll be amazed by the true story of "Genie."Overall, "The Secret of the Wild Child" should be mandatory viewing for anyone in the helping professions and/or child development; this case raises ethical issues that deserve critical thought. Persons who like documentaries in general will not be disappointed.