Jewel (film)
| Jewel | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Drama |
| Written by |
novel Bret Lott teleplay Susan Cooper |
| Directed by | Paul Shapiro |
| Starring |
Farrah Fawcett Patrick Bergin |
| Music by | Jonathan Goldsmith |
| Country of origin | Canada United Kingdom United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) |
Paul A. Kaufman Helene Lynn-Nash (co-executive producer) |
| Producer(s) |
Terry Gould Chris Chrisafis (co-producer) Andrew Somper (co-producer) |
| Cinematography | Frank Tidy |
| Editor(s) |
Neil Grieve Geoffrey Rowland |
| Running time | 120 min. (including commercials) |
| Production company(s) | Alliance Atlantis Communications |
| Distributor | CBS |
| Release | |
| Original network | CBS |
| Original release | February 7, 2001 (USA) |
Jewel is a 2001 television drama film directed by Paul Shapiro, based on the book of the same name by Bret Lott.
In 1945, Jewel Hilburn (Farrah Fawcett), 39, and her husband Leston (Patrick Bergin), 41, are scratching out a living in rural Mississippi, and caring for their four children: Raylene (Rachel Skarsten), 14; Burton (Kyle Fairlie), 11; Wilman (Max Morrow), 10; and Annie (Alexis Vandermaelen), 3. All Jewel's kids have been mid-wived by her friend and housekeeper, Cathedral (Cicely Tyson). Leston has been making a living pulling out pine stumps, selling them to be made into turpentine as part of the war effort. Cathedral's husband, Nelson (Ardon Bess), and their two sons, Sepulchur and Temple, all work for Leston.
The Hilburns discover that they are going to have another child, and decide it will be their last. Cathedral has a premonition and warns Jewel, prophesizing that the child she will bear will be her hardship and her test in this world but that it is God's way of smiling down on Jewel. Jewel gives birth to a baby girl, whom they name Brenda Kay. The child appears to be fine, but in time it becomes obvious that Brenda Kay isn't like other children. She seems to be developing much more slowly. Even at six months old, she lies very still, where other children her age are able to roll over.
Worried, they consult their local physician, Dr. Beaudry, who has his suspicions, but calls in Dr. Basket, his old teacher and the best baby doctor in the South, to make an educated diagnosis. His words to Jewel and Leston are crushing: Brenda Kay is physically and mentally disabled. She has Down syndrome, or, as he describes it as people did in that time, is 'a Mongolian Idiot'. He recommends having her put in an institution with other children with the same condition since Brenda Kay will be a huge burden on them, especially since they already have four other children to care for. At any rate, he bluntly informs them, their daughter is unlikely to survive past her second birthday.
An outraged Jewel flat out refuses, and she declares she will care for her own daughter at home and raise her there as part of the family. Dr. Beaudry tells Jewel that Brenda Kay will have a better chance at survival if she receives injections every six weeks to strengthen her bones. The injections are expensive, but Jewel determines that somehow she and her husband will manage to pay for them. For years, even when times get tough after Leston's job dries up and he has no work. The kids sell the vegetables the family grows on their land, Raylene quits school and gets a job, and Jewel takes in sewing work. And all that time, with enormous grit and determination, Jewel concentrates her attention on Brenda Kay, who does not die, but does not lift her head until she is one, or crawl till she is four. Every step of the way Jewel is there to bathe Brenda Kay, to feed her, change her, rock her when she cries…and encourage her. At age seven, Brenda Kay walks downstairs by herself for the first time. The constant needs of Brenda Kay often means Jewel sacrifices time and energy from her other, older children in the demands of looking after her challenged daughter.
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