Who Are the DeBolts? And Where Did They Get Nineteen Kids?

Out of the mouths of babes: When one of the DeBolts' youngest children is asked by director John Korty what she would call the documentary in progress, she replies, "A good movie. A very good movie about the DeBolt family." This 1977 Academy Award and Humanitas Prize-winner is somewhat dated (the similarly themed My Flesh and Blood was listed as a Video Librarian 2005 “Best Documentary”), but the DeBolts' extraordinary story still packs an inspirational punch. Bob and Dorothy DeBolt opened their hearts and home to 13 disadvantaged and physically challenged children (among them, victims of the Vietnam War), who joined six DeBolt kids from previous marriages. Taking its cue from the DeBolts themselves, Who Are the DeBolts? mostly refrains from sentimentality and manipulative pathos—although the narration can be ham-handed and patronizing at times—primarily because there is no room for self-pity in the DeBolt home. Bob and Dorothy instill in each child the confidence to fulfill his or her potential, and insist that even the most severely handicapped among them does his or her part around the house (one polio-stricken girl, responsible for feeding the dog, kicks the dish across the ground with her leg brace). To quote the narrator, "You're not likely to forget the DeBolts." DVD extras include the follow-up 1982 documentary "Steppin' Out: The DeBolts Grow Up," and a more current "where are they now" wrap-up that finds most members of the DeBolt brood living productive lives. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (D. Liebenson)