Little George (Lux Haney-Jardin) is getting bullied at school and when Mary, his mother(Hilary Swank) finds out, she decides to take him on vacation to the beautiful landscapes of South Africa in a bid to escape suburban life for a while. During their stay in a touristic village not far from the South African capital of Cape Town, Everything is going great until one night when little George is bitten by a mosquito hence infecting him with malaria, the deadliest disease in the world. He subsequently dies on the hospital bed three days later.
A few Miles out of the country, Ben (Sam Claflin) has been assigned in Mozambique to teach English at a local primary school. There he meets beautiful Micaela (Nokuthula Ledwaba) with whom he falls in love. Their romance doesn't last because Ben too suffers the same fate as little George, one fatal mosquito bite takes his life.
The movie follows the lives of two mothers, Mary and Martha (Brenda Blethyn) the latter whose story is analogous to Mary's- brought together by the tragic loss of their sons to Malaria. Their bond quickly grows strong as they relate to each other's tragedy.
Well, this is a nice plot for an inspirational movie but unfortunately it was not that inspirational to me. Why? because although the movie runs 90 minutes, everything happened too quickly I mean events just flashed before our eyes as if in fast forward and to me that just took away the connection i was supposed to have with the characters and the story itself. It's almost as if you were watching the trailer; they summarized everything so dully. Not to mention the fact that we didn't get the chance to understand and connect with the victims (Ben & George) better in order to care enough for them. Ben and Micaela's budding romance isn't supplemented at all either.
Aside from the cheesy storyline, there's something else that doesn't work for this movie. That thing is the fact that, neither Mary nor Martha would have cared a minute for the millions of kids dying in Africa from Malaria had it not been for the death of their own. This means, i presume, that for the white community to care for third world countries something tragic must happen to one of their own first. Would Mary have fought so hard for the senator's attention if that mosquito had never bit George? Surely not, but I'm certain she was already aware of malaria's evil deeds on the African Continent. But the film is of humanitarian aspirations so..it doesn't matter really.
This movie, however, does stay true & genuine to its cause and Hilary Swank does a great job in her acting; her eyes are wet with lingering tears throughout the movie and her performance is quite believable. Brenda Blethyn (Martha)'s performance is average "Mom behavior" that any mother would have enough inspiration to deliver. The whole idea of "Mary and Martha" is great but it just doesn't have that spark you know, it does get really sad at times but it just lacks that warm atmosphere that you find in movies like Schindler's List, Pursuit of Happiness or Savior.
In conclusion, this is the kind of movie that will gain praise from moms all over the world because let's be honest, what is worse than losing your child? More so if you're partly responsible?
It hasn't worked for me, alas, but...what the hell, my mother loved it.
A few Miles out of the country, Ben (Sam Claflin) has been assigned in Mozambique to teach English at a local primary school. There he meets beautiful Micaela (Nokuthula Ledwaba) with whom he falls in love. Their romance doesn't last because Ben too suffers the same fate as little George, one fatal mosquito bite takes his life.
The movie follows the lives of two mothers, Mary and Martha (Brenda Blethyn) the latter whose story is analogous to Mary's- brought together by the tragic loss of their sons to Malaria. Their bond quickly grows strong as they relate to each other's tragedy.
Well, this is a nice plot for an inspirational movie but unfortunately it was not that inspirational to me. Why? because although the movie runs 90 minutes, everything happened too quickly I mean events just flashed before our eyes as if in fast forward and to me that just took away the connection i was supposed to have with the characters and the story itself. It's almost as if you were watching the trailer; they summarized everything so dully. Not to mention the fact that we didn't get the chance to understand and connect with the victims (Ben & George) better in order to care enough for them. Ben and Micaela's budding romance isn't supplemented at all either.
Aside from the cheesy storyline, there's something else that doesn't work for this movie. That thing is the fact that, neither Mary nor Martha would have cared a minute for the millions of kids dying in Africa from Malaria had it not been for the death of their own. This means, i presume, that for the white community to care for third world countries something tragic must happen to one of their own first. Would Mary have fought so hard for the senator's attention if that mosquito had never bit George? Surely not, but I'm certain she was already aware of malaria's evil deeds on the African Continent. But the film is of humanitarian aspirations so..it doesn't matter really.
This movie, however, does stay true & genuine to its cause and Hilary Swank does a great job in her acting; her eyes are wet with lingering tears throughout the movie and her performance is quite believable. Brenda Blethyn (Martha)'s performance is average "Mom behavior" that any mother would have enough inspiration to deliver. The whole idea of "Mary and Martha" is great but it just doesn't have that spark you know, it does get really sad at times but it just lacks that warm atmosphere that you find in movies like Schindler's List, Pursuit of Happiness or Savior.
In conclusion, this is the kind of movie that will gain praise from moms all over the world because let's be honest, what is worse than losing your child? More so if you're partly responsible?
It hasn't worked for me, alas, but...what the hell, my mother loved it.