True life medical drama now in this 1984 made for TV movie. They can’t all be blockbusters, although we wish they were! This was a decent offering with a few unintentional laughs and a genuinely inspiring story.
Glynnis O’Connor stars as military nurse Leola Mae Harmon. She is recently pregnant but still runs to keep her figure. She drive a sweet Mustang but on her way to work one day disaster strikes. Whilst driving on the most obvious closed set road you’ll ever see, a poorly acting drunk overtakes a school bus and hits Leola’s car. The budget is blown in this early scene as the car flies off the road and somersaults a few times, depositing the non seatbelt wearing Leola on her face.
The paramedics are aghast at her injuries and disfigurement and she looks likely to die until Dr Stallings takes over her case in A&E. Dr Stallings, played by ‘Rico Dredd’ Armand Assante, has short hair and takes no nonsense. He immediately starts to plan the reconstruction of Leola’s shattered face, despite protests from his bosses, and casually lets her know her unborn baby is lost.
Meanwhile Leola‘s husband is having trouble coming to terms with his wife‘s injuries. He brings her a box of chocolates not realising that she is on an all soup diet. It doesn‘t help that the make up she‘s been given makes her look like an extra from ‘Star Trek‘ but he can‘t make love to her despite her baby doll nightie and kind offer of turning the lights off.
He‘s soon off the scene and Rico and Leola set about rebuilding her face. There will she shouting and tears but can she be put back together and will the 40 odd operations mean that doctor and patient will form a bond that goes beyond the hospital?
This isn’t the kind of film I would normally watch but it was OK for the genre and I could see it being inspirational to those with disfigurements or with aspirations to marry a doctor.
They made the husband out to be a right dick but I thought he tried his best. Taking the wife to a restaurant with gawking extras and an all soup diet couldn’t have been fun.
Assante got most of the big speeches and screen time with Leola largely mumbling though her sewn up mouth. The make up was poor with some scenes looking like she stuck some plasticine on herself for a joke. She was a strong character though, quickly getting back to work and helping others in situations similar to hers. She was prone to big outbursts, the effect of which was somewhat muted due to the fact that she had a sock in her mouth. When the drunk driver got off with a suspended sentence she almost brought the house down with an impassioned mumble.
I could have done without the mental imagery that the big break through of ‘vaginal tissue’ gave me, but the closing credits with some feel good captions and photos of the now recovered, real life, Leola made the whole painful journey worthwhile.
Best Bit : “…and for pudding?” “Soup” ‘W’ Rating 16/23
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