Good American Family dramatizes a true story

Good American Family tells the Natalia Grace story from several viewpoints. The truth is subjective, depending on who is telling the story. The series starring Ellen Pompeo and Mark Duplass makes no judgements about which version is accurate, but it does lay out the facts.

Good American Family brings some slick production and good actors into a dramatic rendition of the story. When I mentioned it to my true-crime-loving family, they knew all about it from watching three seasons of the documentary series The Curious Case of Natalia Grace. I went in to it without knowing anything.

In 2010, the Kristine Barnett (Ellen Pompeo) and Michael Barnett (Mark Duplass) adopted Natalia (Imogen Faith Reid). She was from Ukraine and was 7 years old. She had dwarfism and needed surgery for her club feet. She walked with the help of a walker.

The Barnetts had three older boys. One was autistic and a math genius. Kristine Barnett built a career out of talking about how she “saved” her autistic son and brought him to his current status as a math genius. She wrote books about it and did speaking engagements. Her image as a good mom was all important.

In the first episodes the the eight part series, Kristine was telling the story. She believed Natalia was much older than 7, in fact she thought she was 22. She regarded Natalia as dangerous and a threat. In Michael’s telling of the story, he stuck with the idea that Natalia was 22, but painted Kristine as abusive.

In 2011, the Barnetts managed to get the birth date on Natalia’s birth certificate changed to 1989, making her legally 22. They put her in an apartment alone and left her there.

Later episodes from Natalia’s point of view painted a different picture. She was too short to reach the food on the shelves in the apartment and couldn’t work a can opener anyway. She was too weak to turn on the water in the bathtub, which she was too short to climb into anyway. She couldn’t reach her mailbox and didn’t know about the EBT card in the mail that would provide her with food.

She was nursing her bleeding feet in an alleyway when Cynthia Mans (Christina Hendricks) spotted her. Cynthia talked to her, took her to the apartment, and found the EBT card in the mailbox. Cynthia convinced Natalia to go to the grocery store with her. She paid for the food with Natalia’s card and took her home to her own family. She and her preacher husband Antwon Mans (Jerod Haynes) had several children who thought the load of groceries was as good as winning the lottery.

The Mans family tried to wrest control of Natalia away from the Barnetts, who were her legal guardians. There were legal battles, lots of doctors expressing the opinion that Natalia was, in fact, a child, and word from Natalia’s biological mother in Ukraine about when she was born.

The Barnetts were charged with child abandonment but never suffered any consequences.

The captivating thing about this story is you never really know what the truth is. Which story is the right one? Was Natalia dangerous or just being a kid? Were the Barnetts abusive or merely misguided? Various kinds of evidence prove that Natalia was a child when the Barnetts left her in that apartment alone. So why weren’t they convicted of abandonment? Did the Mans family care about her or only about her social security and EBT cash?

With top notch acting from people like Ellen Pompeo and Mark Duplass, the characters could look good in one scenario and evil in another, depending on who was talking. I can see why Ellen Pompeo was one of the producers and interested in the part. It was an actors dream. Imogen Faith Reid was brilliant as Natalia. Imogen Faith Reid, by the way, is currently 28. She portrayed a frightened and confused child with conviction.

There were a lot of women involved in telling this story. As producers, as creators (Katie Robbins), and as directors (Liz Garbus, Hannah Fidell, Stacie Passon, Eva Vives) and as actors. Jenny O’Hara played Kristine’s mom. Sarayu Blue played her loyal supporter.

I thought it was a fascinating story because of the way it was told. The writing, plotting and the use of multiple points of view really help this series grab you. The best part, for me, was that I still didn’t really know the truth when it was over. Or maybe it’s a question of which lie is the most acceptable?

Hulu has this one streaming. All eight episodes are now available.