"BORN INNOCENT" remains one of the more "controversial" TV movies of the 1970s.Setting the path for Linda Blair's future in trashy,women-behind-bars,skin-flicks.This is a shame because Born Innocent is a realistic and straight-forward expose'of life in "reformatories" and the people who try to make a difference there! The well-known story concerns a 14-year-old girl,branded an "incorrigible"runaway,sent to the state school for girls after being relinquished by her parents.At the "school" we meet girls with a variety of problems and behaviors-most of whom seem simply unloved aqnd unwanted!Of course we learn otherwise but the question still remains:Can having loving parents and a "normal" life in middle-class suburbia really solve everyone's problems?Are some people just not capable of functioning within the structure of a family and becomming productive in society? I think the most couragious step that the filmakers have taken is to show the school's "inmates" as both criminals and yet still "kids" who crave acceptance from each other and yes,the adults around them!This is especially evident in the scenes in which Chris Parker(the central character) befriends those same girls who "raped" her earlier in the story!Or when Moco(the tough lesbian) actually cries when Janet(Chris' friend) loses her baby during her stint in isolation(as punishment for fighting with Moco!) By the movies' end nothing has really been resolved!After injuring their housemother during a protest riot Chris joins her friends at the school and has undoubtedly become the new "leader".We the viewers are left to wonder:Will Chris ever get out and lead a productive life?Will any of these girls "make it" out "there"? It would be interesting to have made a "follow-up" sequel-something like "Born Innocent-25 years later!" Well...maybe not!!!
