Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story (TV Movie 2003)

Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story (TV Movie 2003). Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story: Directed by Peter Levin. With Thora Birch, Michael Riley, Robert Bockstael, Makyla Smith. Based on a true story. Liz Murray is a young girl who is taken care of by her loving, but drug-addicted parents. Liz becomes homeless at 15 and after a tragedy comes upon her, she begins her work to finish high school.

“Generally, made for television movies are on a level below theatrical endeavors. However, `Homeless To Harvardu0026#39; is a surprising and welcome exception. Without question it is one of the best made for television movies ever produced. This true story of Liz Murray continually strikes your primal emotional chord throughout the movie. The story is told in a stark realistically convincing manner. Excellent performances are turned in by Jennifer Pisana and Thora Birch as Liz at slightly different ages and by Kelly Lynch as Lizu0026#39;s alcoholic and drug addicted mother Jean. Unfortunately, the world has an ample supply of dysfunctional parents. Most often, their own children use them as an excuse to be equally dysfunctional. How uplifting to have a child use their parentu0026#39;s dysfunctional behavior, not as an excuse to sink into oblivion, but rather as a reason to not follow in their footsteps. This movie is all about choices. Anyone of any age who watches this movie will be left with absolutely no excuse to wallow in self pity. While this movie is a remarkable endeavor, it could have been even better. Understandably you can only fit so much content into a movie. Moreover, Iu0026#39;m certain that the writers included all of the key elements of Lizu0026#39;s life. However, this movie would have stood in a class by itself if only they had delved into Lizu0026#39;s true character. They did an exceptional job of depicting the decadent life that she was subject to, her reactions to it, and her existence within it. However, you donu0026#39;t get to see inside of Liz to actually know what sheu0026#39;s all about. In addition, I sensed that we were shown a slightly whitewashed portrait of Liz in contrast to her true self. I suspect that she was in fact a little less innocent and a little more tarnished and troublesome than she was portrayed to be. If thereu0026#39;s one unanswered question lingering on vieweru0026#39;s minds, it has to be: Why, after overcoming such insurmountable adversity, did she end up leaving Harvard? All that aside, u0026#39;Homeless To Harvardu0026#39; is truly a triumph of the human spirit movie. This will be a treasured prize for your DVD/VHS collection when it becomes available.”