No Way Out But One

No Way Out But One deserves a thousand accolades
No Way Out But One is by far the best documentary I've ever seen. In fact, I've watched it three times and can't wait to see it two more times at the April 27 conference "National Scandal: Family Courts Give Children to Identified Pedophiles" in Davis, CA [...] and at the May 10-12 Battered Mothers Custody Conference in Washington DC [...].

No Way Out But One describes the impossible Catch 22 confronted by mothers trying to protect their children in family (divorce) courts across the nation. The system fails children who report parental abuse in a way that defies belief. Garland Waller captured the nearly impossible conundrum of the Collins family and wove it into a beautifully filmed story of hope and triumph.

Holly Collins Truly Had No Way Out But One
Like Holly Collins, I sought to protect my children from abuse. Unlike Holly, I remained in the United States and I followed all of the court's orders. My abusive ex-husband was awarded full custody of our two minor children in November 1998. My children never came home again. What happened to me and my children substantiates that Holly truly had no way out but one. For anyone who might wonder if Holly could have stayed in the U.S. and protected her children somehow, I'm living proof she could not. What Holly did took enormous strength and courage. She had perseverance against all odds. In my opinion, every person who views this documentary will realize once and for all that something is terribly wrong in America's family court system. Barry Nolan and Garland Waller managed to capture a very lucid 'snapshot' of an injustice that's unthinkable. Even though I've lived without my children for the past 15 years and know firsthand that there is no way out but one, I soaked up this film as...

Compelling story brought as a B documentary
"No Way Out But One" (2011 release; 89 min.) originally came out about 18 months ago, pretty much having been financed through Kickstarter and then self-released by the writers-directors-producers Barry Nolan and Garland Waller. It recently has been re-released by the folks at Passion River.

The documentary brings the story of how Holly Ann Collins and her two young children are living in the early 1990s in abuse from the husband/father. For reasons that are being explained painstakingly in the movie, it is apparently the case in the US justice system that when one parent alleges abusive behavior against the other, the abusing parent will usually counter-allege with "Parental Alienation Syndrom" (in lay-man terms: that the mother is coaching her kids to not want to spend time with the abusive father), and that abusing parent usually will win. So too in this case, and the Minnesota family court, despite ample evidence of physical abuse, awards full custody of the kids to the...

Click to Editorial Reviews