High hopes

 
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The story of a young mother and former heroin addict trying to rebuild her life after three years in prison, Sherrybaby is never easy viewing. However, boasting an award-winning performance by Maggie Gyllenhaal as the protagonist Sherry Swanson, the film is a compelling story of this woman’s struggle for redemption against the cold realities of life, which is well worth a look. The character of Sherry is based on a close childhood friend of writer and director Laurie Collyer, and Gyllenhaal’s mesmerizing portrayal combines with the documentary-style cinematography to give Sherrybaby a very raw and authentic feel. In preparation for the role, Gyllenhaal spent time in halfway houses, drug recovery programmes and parole meetings, coming to feel a sense of responsibility for producing an accurate portrayal of the lives of the women she met. Although divided about the overall merits of the film, critics were universally appreciative of her efforts. One wrote, ‘You may not like the character - you'd be deluded if you did - yet your heart opens up and bleeds for her.’[1]

Sherry is in a situation which will be alien to the experience of most viewers, yet we are able to empathise with the challenges she faces. She is a  young woman with high hopes for the future, but tough circumstances in the present and a painful past which are always ready to overwhelm her good intentions. Many of us will feel that we could have ended up in a similar position had our lives taken a slightly different course. Laurie Collyer says of the friend who inspired the film, ‘in the back of my mind I knew that it could have been me going down that path.’ The blame for Sherry’s actions is never shifted from her, but the things she does and the person she has become are heartbreakingly understandable. Her extreme experiences have led Sherry to a desperate situation. Most of us have a less turbulent background, and the problems we face may not be on the same scale as those in the film, but we still share similar struggles with issues of self-worth, disappointments about the way our lives turn out, and the desire to change and get a second chance.

According to Collyer, Sherrybaby is about hope:

the hope of a young woman trying to reconnect with her child after a long hard road of drug addiction and prison time. It is a desperate, almost primal hope which exists beyond reason. But this is truly what hope is - an indomitable spirit that keeps us believing that life can be what we imagine. As a character, Sherry Swanson is the embodiment of hope because she has nothing left to believe in, and yet she still believes.

Despite all the problems in her past, Sherry genuinely believes that she can make a new start and be a good mother to her daughter. She soon discovers that things are not as easy as she’d hoped, yet she continues to believe that she can prevail, asserting, ‘I’m strong’, even when all evidence suggests otherwise. In many ways, Sherry’s unwavering commitment to building a relationship with her daughter is strongly reminiscent of the biblical description of love: ‘Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance’ (1 Corinthians 13:7, NLT).The love Sherry displays, however, is by no means entirely selfless – she struggles to put her daughter’s best interests first because of her own needs for love and affirmation. Neither is Sherry’s hope necessarily a consistently positive influence as she tries to sort out her life. Maggie Gyllenhaal describes Sherry’s optimism about the future as ‘naïve’, observing that, ‘She gets out of prison feeling like she’s going to take the world and make it hers, and when things go wrong for her, which they do almost immediately, she falls from a high, high place.’

The film raises questions about second chances. Who deserves them? How many second chances ought we to get? Is it possible for people to really change? On coming out of prison, Sherry gets a second chance at life and being a mother. We soon see that it will take more than one ‘second chance’ to get Sherry’s life on track, but, despite her failings, we do not stop wanting her to succeed. Even as it seems increasingly unlikely that Sherry will manage to achieve her aims, we still want her to get more chances and to find a way of changing. This cannot be because Sherry is a particularly likeable character: she is self-centred, immature and attention-seeking. The important factor, perhaps, is that she has a genuine desire to change, and seems to be truly repentant about the mistakes she has made. We want her to make it because we want to believe that we will be given second chances when we mess up, and that change is a possibility for anyone. In contrast, we do not instinctively wish for the redemption of those characters whose treatment of Sherry contributes to the desperate nature of her situation. They show no signs of repentance so we do not feel that they deserve any second chances.

A number of different methods are suggested in the film as to how Sherry might be able to reform her life. The director of her half-way house (Rio Hackford) advocates: ‘a programme for life, a programme of change that’ll spin your head around and make you happier than you ever were when you were on drugs and alcohol.’ However, he is evidently more interested in Sherry’s body than her emotional or spiritual wellbeing – an attitude common to the majority of men in this film. Sherry tells the director, ‘I like the Good Book [the Bible] better’, and there is evidence that God is part of her plans for change. Early in the film she prays, asking God to ‘forgive me my weaknesses and my mistakes. Give me the strength to take life one day at a time and take care of my daughter.’ However, no divine interventions or miraculous changes are apparent. Sherry faces huge challenges, suffers pain and disappointment, and by the end of the film there is still no sign of a happily-ever-after.

It is very easy to give advice to people in situations like Sherry’s, suggesting straightforward and sensible answers to their problems. Christians can be particularly susceptible to this temptation, citing the power of prayer and the ability of God to transform people and circumstances, or referencing Bible verses like: ‘Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit’. (Ephesians 5:18, NLT). These suggestions may be all relevant and true, but it must always be remembered that these are not easy situations, and there are no easy answers. A recurring idea in the film is that problems this big must be approached ‘one step at a time.’ As one reviewer observes:

this is a story without easy miracles or jailhouse transformations . . . Is she learning that bad decisions have consequences, for her and the people she loves? Will she ever be capable of being a real mother to Alexis? Frankly, we don't know, and there's a dignity and honesty in that uncertainty that movies can rarely reach.[2]

The only real breakthrough in Sherrybaby comes when Sherry accepts that she isn’t as strong as she might like to be, and that she won’t be able to make a success of her life without help. The Bible asserts that this is true for everybody. We may have good intentions, but when we try to achieve them on our own we inevitably fail:

I want to do what is right, but I can’t. I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway . . . Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 7:18-19, 24-25, NLT)

Accepting our weaknesses and depending on someone else to help us through may be the first step we need to take if we are going to make the most of the second chances we get in life. And, as the above Bible passage suggests, there is no one better to turn to for help than Jesus, the one who has broken the power of sin and offers second chances to all of us. Like Sherry, we can’t sort out our lives simply through hard work and the application of some wise words of advice. If we really want to change, we will need to experience forgiveness for our past mistakes and we will need help to get through the times when we can’t make it on our own. This is not an easy thing to do, and it won’t make all our problems go away, but it could be the first step we need to take towards a better way of life. It takes Sherry a long time and a lot of pain, but finally she confesses: ‘I can’t do it by myself’, and suddenly we can see some hope for her future. Perhaps it is time we admitted the same thing.

All unattributed quotes taken from the film or the official website (www.Sherrybaby-film.com)

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