Mini-Review: "The Mother"

By Joey Vergara

Published March 1, 2008

Filmed over a period of three years, “The Mother” gives unlimited access into the lives of the Russian poor and downtrodden living in the countryside. While the focus rests on a Russian mother of nine and the people that filter in and out of her life, “The Mother” is a universal story of survival in the worst circumstances.

The Mother is the embodiment of resolve and ultimate kindness. The film captures her at her flawed best. Even if she curses her children daily (a language of its own in Russia according to co-director Antoine Cattin), it is clear how much she does for them and the other characters she takes into her home, such as the ailing son of an irresponsible co-worker, at the cost of her own health and emotional well-being.

The film begins with the Mother boarding a train. It is unclear why she is doing so until the very last minutes of the documentary. The filmmakers (co-directors Cattin and Pavel Kostamarov) interview the Mother during the train ride, and it is these moments that blend into the various stories that comprise “The Mother.” It is not a linear narrative but pieces of a larger story – the eldest daughter’s marriage, the children’s literacy problems at school, the troublesome adolescent son and the long hours at work – that provide the complete tale of the Mother. All these stories blend in and out of the train and the Mother’s words until she finally reaches her destination.

A little slow in the beginning, “The Mother” picks up as the emotional stakes are raised. The joy of young love is destroyed when Olesia’s new husband goes to court for beating his mother’s friend. It is a moment of great relief when the Mother rescues Sasha, the sick child, but hope is just as easily taken away when the boy’s real mother comes for him. The filmmakers capture very real emotions, and their choice to leave many questions unanswered leave the viewer an emotional wreck.

But the film ends abruptly (perhaps too much so for some audiences) as the Mother attempts to find her oldest son, fresh out of prison, at the train station. “The Mother” is a portrait of a woman who cannot stop. She must work until she falls and chase her children to protect them from the dangers of modern life in Russia and their own laziness.