Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘Rain Beau’s End’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

Caution: This article contains some spoilers for the motion picture, ‘Rain Beau’s End’.

​If there is one thing that modern society has worked incredibly hard to create over the course of the last century or so, it would have to be the perfect family unit. For we have collectively come to learn that having a solid family unit that supports and nurtures children, is critical to creating good and productive people and that is why, in America at least, we’ve seen a grand push for men and women to get married as soon as they can and raise a family. So that, mother and father can impart the wisdom they learned from their perfect parents, upon their children and love them and guide them to becoming incredible human beings that will change the world someday. But while that particular structure has its merits and has given all of us something to strive for in starting a family, let’s be honest in saying that such a particular goal is damn near impossible to achieve.
​
Because two-point-five children really isn’t a thing anymore, and there isn’t always a mommy and a daddy in a family. Sometimes it’s just one parent or sometimes they’re made up of the same sex and to top it all off, raising kids is not as easy as it sounds. For they are indeed individuals with specific needs and wants that don’t always jibe with that of their parents, and a house of individuality can cause great conflicts at times, to the point where some leave family life behind. Yet that grand dream of the perfect nuclear family persists, simply because we believe it is achievable. But not everyone prefers to push that particularly flawed dream. For sometimes creative minds are eager to assemble a story that shows the world how difficult such a venture can be, in order to properly celebrate it, as is the case with the newly released film, Rain Beau’s End.

Now in this particular motion picture, we are transported back to 1999 to meet a lesbian couple named Jules Paradise and Hannah Driver and well, they want that perfect family life, and when we catch up with them here, they’re close to achieving their dreams. For they are about to adopt a young man named Beau and having him around will allow for them to live fulfilling lives in which they can raise Beau to be the perfect man. But the revelation that he’s suffering from emotional issues and potentially a genetic marker that will motivate him to be violent in life, changes everything for Hannah. For now, she believes that her baby boy could turn out to be quite the rotten human being, giving her all the more reason to try and force this family to be what she imagined in her mind and that will lead to all kinds of incredible challenges for everyone in the household, as they try to navigate a dream gone wrong. 

---

Which is a plot that truly makes it sound as though you’re going to watch a supremely by the numbers film that will lightly touch upon how tough it is to raise a family, before everything comes together in a beautiful and happy manner. The kind that leaves the viewer feeling fulfilled and joyous about family life. But once Beau begins to exhibit some violent tendencies and once Hannah really comes to fear that she’s brought the anthesis of what she wanted home, the story shifts gears and becomes a powerful exploration on how difficult family life truly is. Because Hannah and Jules genuinely struggle to raise Beau in a manner that pleases all parties and despite their best efforts to put him on the right path, he continues to walk the wrong one, and that pushes their relationship to the breaking point really, and of course, their inability to reach Beau makes it seem as though his legacy is going to be nothing more than a grand tragedy. 
​
Which truly allows for some harrowing and uncomfortable moments to take place in this story, the kind that touch upon the devastating nature of domestic violence and bullying and even how much easier it would be for us to walk away from problems in this vein. But all of these dark moments are present in this story to teach the viewer some valuable lessons. Such as the fact that family is forever, and we don’t just get to walk away from it and that we simply cannot ever give up on the people we love. Because it is our faith in them that truly allows for them to grow and become more in life, and the instant we turn our back upon them, when we haven’t given them every chance to redeem themselves or grow… is when we have truly failed at being a parent or a partner. But most important of all, this movie does a phenomenal job of asking us to live in the moment when it comes to family life.

Because sometimes, we get so caught up in the dream of perfection, or our careers, that we miss the fact that beautiful moments are indeed happening all around us. And that there are special things that our loved ones do for us and no one else, and if we fail to cherish those… we will miss out on the wonder of knowing that we have a perfect family life in front of us after all. If anything, all of these elements make this a wonderfully complex and magnificent motion picture. One that truly encapsulates what the modern American family looks like and how raising one isn’t for the faint of heart. For it takes guts and an open heart and an open mind and incredible patience to make that happen and that message and all the others we’ve discussed today, make this a worthwhile watch. Simply because this is that rare motion picture, that truly captures the essence of the human experience.

---