Closure Movie Review

Those active in the adoption community have probably heard of the documentary called Closure that recently came to Netflix. Those outside the adoption community have probably never heard of it, though this is the audience that may need it the most.

To begin the documentary, we meet a young woman named Angela. Her thousand-watt smile pulled me in right away, and her vivacious personality kept me glued.

Angela was adopted when she was a year old by David and Teresa Burt of Bellingham, Washington, so I was familiar with many of the sights seen in the film, which added another level of personal connection for me.

Teresa and David tell the story of how their family was formed, first through the birth of their oldest daughter, and then through adoption—seven times! Home videos from the formative years of their children add endearing details to the parents’ explanations. While Teresa seems to have been the driving force behind their choice to adopt, the look in David’s eyes as he recounts how each child became part of their family is a real heart-melter. I loved seeing the joy of adoption in his expression, probably because I feel the same joy myself.

Once we get the whole family picture, the movie zeroes in on Angela. Her husband, Bryan, is the creator of the film and takes us step by step through the process of finding Angela’s birth parents.Bryan and Angela began with the only information Angela had about her birth parents: a single sheet of biographical information. Can you even fathom knowing nothing more than one page worth of biographical information about the people who gave you life? I can’t! Blanks stood in place of last names, so going by first names only they were able to find her birth father. Through him, a whole new world was opened to this amazing young lady.

The Good:
Angela absolutely glows. She is a positive, upbeat gal, even before the search for her birth parents ever begins. I’ll leave it to you to watch and find out which of her birth parents she gets her sparkling personality from.

The film is very digestible and easy to watch. Tucker blends just the right ratio of action footage to interview footage to keep the viewer interested. It isn’t going to be nominated for an Oscar brilliant cinematography, but it does an adequate job of telling the story.

I love that all members of the adoption triad are portrayed in a very human light here. Bryan’s perspective is unique in that he is close to the adoptee, but none of these relationships are his own; they all belong to Angela. This allows him to have a sympathetic perspective without having all of the internal drama that might cloud his judgment about the motives of one person or another. He captures some of the negative feelings that come about in all three members of this adoption triad without vilifying any one of them–that is commendable.

About halfway through the movie I began to wonder if Angela’s feelings were being whitewashed. There wasn’t a lot of interview time spent discussing her feelings about the search, and even when she was disappointed she seemed super positive. As the movie progressed, I realized that mostly traced back to her innate optimism. It wasn’t that Bryan was trying to hide her negative feelings, she was just responding to the situation with a positive outlook. When it came down to getting to know her birth mother, there was a lot more negativity on that side of the family, and it’s clear that Angela and her family have to navigate some difficult emotions.

Bryan did an excellent job of allowing the story to unfold without trying to cast any particular light or judgment on any part or party, which I found refreshing.

The not so Good:
The music was written and performed specifically for the documentary by a band I’d never heard of, the name of which flashed across the screen at the beginning of the movie. This aspect of the film was on about the same level of the artistry of it—adequate. The purpose of this particular documentary was just to tell Angela’s story, so if you are looking for a work of art, you’re barking up the wrong tree.

I also would have loved more detailed interviews with the members of the triad that dive deeper into how each of them processed this new chapter of their adoption experience. However, I can see that he was probably working from a limited amount of action footage and including more interviews might have slowed the pace too much.

Mention of the race factor was nearly non-existent in this film. Angela and a couple of her siblings are African American and they were raised in a Caucasian family in a primarily Caucasian area. This is mentioned, but as Angela searches for her birth mother it seems that race would play some role in her feelings about reunification. While I recognize that interracial adoption was not the focus of this documentary, I think it bears enough relevance to the story to merit at least a small amount of attention.

In the end, Angela, her adoptive parents, and her birth parents all portray an adoption journey that is centered around love. I was touched by the many people whose hearts were changed as nature and nurture collided. “We were connected,” Angela’s birth mom concludes, “whether we knew it not.”

I love the way this documentary takes a lot of adoption issues out of the realm of rumor and speculation and brings them down to earth. Its unique refusal to villainize or idolize even a single member of this adoption family is refreshing. This heartfelt tale, told mostly through the eyes of the adoptee and her husband, is one of those gems on Netflix that you won’t want to miss.

For an adoptee’s perspective on the movie, check out this review from My Mind on Paper.

For the perspective of someone who is presumably an “outsider” to adoption, check out this review from Seattle Pacific University’s paper.

*Note: This film is not rated. It appropriate for the whole family, though if you have adopted children in your home you may want to preview it before your kids see it.