I did not realize that this story was based on the British mother, not the American mother. The American mother was definitely given more screen time, but then, it was Hilary Swank. The British mother was Brenda Blethyn, who can basically do anything.
The two lead actresses do their best in an awkward script that tries to connect their lives via the tragedies of their sons, lost to malaria.
While no doubt the heart of this story was in the right place, it never once asked the question: "Why isn't the government of Mozambique doing more to fight malaria, and/or contacting the US for help?"
Instead, what we have is a story of a very rich white woman (Hilary) who makes an insane decision to take her bullied son out of school for an "adventure," goes to Mozambique, expects people to serve her son pizza when he can't eat the local cuisine, seems totally oblivious to the dangers of living where she chose to live with a young child (hello, hospitals hours away?), and apparently had lots of money to always have a driver and people carry her things.
When her child dies of malaria, we're forced to see Hilary staring blankly out into space while she suffers.
I could go on, but to be honest, this was not a movie; it was an imitation of a movie. It was forced and manipulative, and if the people behind this really wanted to make a point or raise awareness about this issue, they would have made a documentary (which they may have made, I don't know).
It's really not worth the time.
The two lead actresses do their best in an awkward script that tries to connect their lives via the tragedies of their sons, lost to malaria.
While no doubt the heart of this story was in the right place, it never once asked the question: "Why isn't the government of Mozambique doing more to fight malaria, and/or contacting the US for help?"
Instead, what we have is a story of a very rich white woman (Hilary) who makes an insane decision to take her bullied son out of school for an "adventure," goes to Mozambique, expects people to serve her son pizza when he can't eat the local cuisine, seems totally oblivious to the dangers of living where she chose to live with a young child (hello, hospitals hours away?), and apparently had lots of money to always have a driver and people carry her things.
When her child dies of malaria, we're forced to see Hilary staring blankly out into space while she suffers.
I could go on, but to be honest, this was not a movie; it was an imitation of a movie. It was forced and manipulative, and if the people behind this really wanted to make a point or raise awareness about this issue, they would have made a documentary (which they may have made, I don't know).
It's really not worth the time.