The Forgotten

By Christina VanGinkel

Maybe because I am a fan of shows such as the X Files, or maybe partly because I am a mother, this show grabbed my attention from the start and held it until the final credits rolled. The Forgotten, starring Julianne Moore as Telly Paretta, Christopher Kovaleski as Sam, Gary Sinise as Telly's Psychiatrist, Dr. Jack Munce, and Dominic West as Ash, relates the story of a mother's memory with a somewhat alien twist.

Telly Paretta is the mother of nine year old Sam. When Sam is killed in a plane crash, Telly does not think life could get worse. Suddenly though, all the people in her life that are around her on a day to day basis, from her husband to her psychiatrist, are telling her that she is delusional. Sam never existed. She is told that yes, she was pregnant. However, she supposedly lost the baby, and her delusions of nine year old Sam are her way of coping with the loss. Telly knows he existed though and she has proof. She has two scrapbooks full of pictures, home videos, even a strip of photos that she and Sam had taken together in one of those quick style photo booths found from malls to amusement parks. Not to mention, there are newspaper accounts of the plane crash itself, with a grainy but recognizable picture of Sam as one of the young victims.

Then one day, Sam disappears from all the family's photographs, the scrapbooks are nothing more than blank pages, and the home videos are just static filled screens. Her husband tells her she is just reacting to the loss of the baby and her psychiatrist recommends that she be hospitalized. Fearful of being locked up, she races off heading to the library to look up the old newspaper clippings detailing the crash. When she realizes that even those are gone, she rushes out of the library.

In her troublesome state of mind, she remembers seeing Ash, the father of another young child by the name of Lauren that was on the same plane as Sam at the neighborhood park. She figures if anyone will believe her, he will. She recalls where he lives because she and Sam had given Lauren rides to various activities. Her recognition is right on and he is home, though a bit on the drunk side. Once sobered up, he insists he never had a daughter, let alone one by the name of Lauren. When Telly rips off the wallpaper in what she remembers as being Lauren's room to reveal walls of childlike drawing, and forces Ash to say his daughter's name aloud, he still does not recall her, or is not yet ready to believe it, and he calls the police. Before he knows it, the police arrive, but so do the feds who quickly take Telly into custody. In a raging rush of memories though, Ash suddenly remembers his daughter as memories flood his brain as fast as he can fit them in. Ash rushes down the apartment building steps to see Telly being taken away by the federal agents and a fight ensues. Telly gets away and rushes off, joined by Ash.

Together, Telly and Ash are in a race against forces whose origins they are quite unsure of. However, when they manage to tie up one of the federal agents and in the midst of questioning him, he is pulled right through a buildings roof into the depths of the sky, they are coming to understand that whatever it is that has taken their children from them, it is surely worse than anything they could ever have imagined. In addition, it does not seem to be of this world, as what else could erase the memories of so many along with the physical proof of each of their children's very existence.

Evidence leads them to a bankrupted airline, a man who is seemingly able to be everywhere, and who even after being run down by their vehicle simply walks away unscathed. Some of these events do not go unnoticed by the local police though, and a cop is unwittingly drawn into the drama as she attempts to help Telly.

The ending of this sci-fi thriller is filled with suspense, action, and will leave you wondering, questioning even, what each of us is here on earth for.