SummaryWhen 10-year-old Maya Kowalski was admitted to Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in 2016, nothing could have prepared her or her family for what they were about to go through. As the medical team tried to understand her rare illness, they began to question the basic truths that bound the Kowalskis together. Suddenly, Maya was in state custody... Read More
Directed By:Henry Roosevelt
Take Care of Maya
Metascore
Generally Favorable
64
User score
Generally Favorable
8.0
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Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
80% Positive
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
20% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Jun 20, 2023
72
This wrenching documentary—culminating with commentary from some of the 100 other families who contacted director Roosevelt with similar tales of false-abuse-allegations woe—gives captivating voice to their sorrow and outrage.
Jun 23, 2023
70
An absorbing and challenging film, capturing the frustration of being held in limbo by a system that seems to prioritize punishment over appeals.
User score
Generally Favorable
83% Positive
5 Ratings
5 Ratings
17% Mixed
1 Rating
1 Rating
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
Apr 8, 2025
9
Uma história muito tocante.Basicamente, o primeiro 1/3 do documentário conta a história da família Kowalski, que a mãe (Beata) é uma imigrante polonesa bem batalhadora e que sonhava em ser mãe e a Maya (filha) tem uma rara doença SRDS com dor cronica e isso é muito difícil pra família porque Maya sofria muito.Após irem em vários médicos, eles decidem fazer um tratamento com coma com Cetamina no Mexico e isso faz a filha melhorar por 1 ano.Depois, começa a próxima parte do documentário que é basicamente mostrando como o próximo hospital que botaram a Maya toma a criança e acusa os pais (principalmente a mãe) de estar inventando o problema e abusando da filha com Cetamina e o mais absurdo é que o conselho tutelar acredita nisso e separa friamente os pais da criança e ainda tenta jogar o pai contra a mãe. Tanta tristeza foi demais para a mãe suportar e ela se mata. O próximo terço do documentário, mostra a batalha da família para obter justiça e mostra que outras famílias tmb sofreram com essa médica e hospital.O documentário é brilhante em captar as emoções e principalmente o 2° terço é uma das melhores partes, mostrando como é frustante batalhar contra o Estado e como todo mundo foi tão frio que fez a mãe da Maya se matar.
Dec 26, 2023
9
I don't know but I love documentaries... This one is one of the bests. I really get emotional with this one.
Jun 20, 2023
70
With the hospital and its primary representative in the case, Dr. Sally Smith, refusing to cooperate with the filmmakers, Take Care of Maya is necessarily one-sided. That side is rendered with sympathy and sensitivity, and a lingering, frustratingly unanswered question: How exactly does something like this happen?
Jun 20, 2023
67
That sense of a story rendered incomplete, of answers we may never fully know, is at the heart of the Kowalskis’ story, but Roosevelt’s film is unable to square that with the constraints and demands of a feature film.
Jun 20, 2023
40
Take Care of Maya is grueling, but it is also oddly deficient, wanting for the precision and perspective essential to deriving insight from profound trauma.
Jul 2, 2023
6
The documentary itself is quite practical and covers the incredibly **** up case very well, but a part of me felt that it was too passive in its interest in not taking a critical side of the events that occurred and the people involved. However, it is worth it. Especially for digging into a reality that should scare several parents.
Production Company:
- Story Syndicate
- Wise Fool
Release Date:Jun 19, 2023
Duration:1 h 43 m
Rating:TV-14
Awards
Tribeca Film Festival
• 1 Nomination
Women Film Critics Circle Awards
• 1 Nomination
