VOA标准英语2013--Story of One American Family’s Russian Adoption Told in Documentary（在线收听）

Story of One American Family’s Russian Adoption Told in Documentary 

NEW YORK — A documentary that tells the story of three Russian children adopted by an American couple has become especially relevant in the wake of Russia’s 2012 ban  on U.S. adoptions.

The Dark Matter of Love combines an American family’s story with research on the science of attachment - how humans learn to connect.

The American parents, Claudio and Cheryl Diaz, had a teenage daughter, Cami, when they adopted three children from Russian orphanages: 11-year-old Masha, and five- year-old twins Marcel and Vadim.

Throughout the film, a therapist specializing in adoption issues visits the Diaz family to help them learn how to help their children love and trust. The film shows a  year of struggle and depression for everyone in the family.  Director Sarah McCarthy spoke to VOA's Victoria Kupchinetsky.  “It’s difficult for parents to understand  the behavior of the adopted children, because they will just push you away and push you away, and it’s not because they’re evil or because they’re trying to hurt  you.  It’s because they’ve grown up in an orphanage and that’s the way they’ve learned to survive," said McCarthy.

But the research also shows, McCarthy says, that young brains can rewire, and that orphans can thrive in a loving family, as the Diaz children have.

McCarthy is using her film to relay that message and campaign against Russia’s ban on U.S. adoptions which halted 300 adoptions underway.  The Dark Matter of Love has  been screened in Moscow and other cities by groups lobbying Russia to repeal the ban.

It has played to strong reviews at film festivals in the U.S. and Canada.