Homophobia at Heart of ‘Any Mother’s Son’
Navy radioman Allen Schindler’s brutal murder at the hands of homophobic shipmates in 1992, and subsequent allegations of a Navy cover-up, are at the heart of tonight’s Lifetime movie, “Any Mother’s Son,” starring Bonnie Bedelia.
The sympathetic, fact-based drama observes the tragedy through the eyes of Schindler’s mother, Dorothy Hajdys (Bedelia), a Chicago Heights factory worker, whose devastation over her son’s death is compounded by an acknowledgment of her own homophobic prejudices, and by her increasing fear that justice won’t be done.
For the record:
12:00 a.m. Aug. 13, 1997 For the Record
Los Angeles Times Wednesday August 13, 1997 Home Edition Calendar Part F Page 6 Entertainment Desk 1 inches; 21 words Type of Material: Correction
Movie director--David Burton Morris directed the Lifetime Channel movie, “Any Mother’s Son.” He was misidentified in Monday’s Calendar review.
Written by Bruce Harmon and directed by David Burton Moss with deliberate restraint, the film does not tread lightly on Naval sensitivities, painting a stark picture of official obfuscation and secrecy. Outraged by the Navy’s lack of response to her concerns, Hajdys went public in a big way after learning that one participant in the fatal beating would serve only 78 days in prison.
The film itself is at times painfully earnest, but Bedelia gives a fine-tuned, understated performance as Hajdys’ loss becomes part of the public discourse on both the military’s then-ban on gays, and on societal attitudes that some take for tacit approval of the dehumanizing mistreatment of homosexuals.
As Hajdys’ mother, Sada Thompson, too, is a deeply moving presence, offering with quiet dignity a shaming refutation that homosexuality in any way justifies murder.
But the film loses what makes it most compelling--its intimate connection with Bedelia’s character--when Hajdys acquires her crusader’s mantle along with a news reporter sidekick. And real life feeds the hollowness of the courtroom finale: Despite the Clinton adminstration’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, the number of gays and lesbians being discharged from the military reached a five-year high in 1996, according to Defense Department statistics. A Pentagon review is underway.
* “Any Mother’s Son” airs at 9 tonight on Lifetime cable. The network has rated it TV-14 (may not be appropriate for children under the age of 14).
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