← Back to Cinema Atlas
Discover great cinema and the connections that made it possible.
A Child Is Waiting
UNITED STATES · 1963

A Child Is Waiting

John Cassavetes
disability care institutional systems child abandonment compassion vs discipline personal redemption
Stream on Criterion → ▶ Trailer

Synopsis

Dr. Matthew Clark is the head of a state institution for intellectually disabled children. Jean Hansen, a former music teacher anxious to give her life some meaning, joins the staff of the hospital. Jean, who tries to shelter the children with her love, suspiciously regards Dr. Clark's stern training methods. She becomes emotionally involved with 12-year-old Reuben Widdicombe, who has been abandon