TWO WOMEN VS A MASS KILLER : "MARY AND MARTHA"

It’s funny, do you ever get the feeling some films actively WANT you to watch them? I’m not talking about advertising or some such, I mean some films (or it could be books or anything else I suppose) that just keep popping out at you at odd places? Take this one. I barely noticed and acknowledged its existence at first. It elbowed its way into my line of vision. I commended its activism but thought I would find it too sad and possibly a tiny bit saccharine to my taste, so I passed. Much like the characters in the film however, the film WOULD NOT go away. It was not being “pushed” per se, but in every random collection of films my eye spied, there it would be. I mean, in the end I just gave up, pure and simple. And I “bought” what it was saying, as it were.  I know, there are many, many terrible things in the world. Malaria is only one of them. And while we cannot hope to solve “everything”, why not try and do something about malaria, which is preventable. In our lifetime. And thus save millions of lives. I mean, you have to admit, it’s a pretty cool idea…

Mary and Martha is the story of two mothers. But the story doesn’t start with them. It starts with George and Ben. Their sons. On the surface of it, the two could not be further apart. Ben, Martha’s son, from the UK, is 24 years old and is working as a volunteer teacher in an orphanage in Mozambique. George, the son of Mary, is only 12, he is on an extended “road trip” with his mother, Mary, who has taken him out of school to home school him and show him the real world. Mary and Martha’s worlds collide through tragedy: both their sons fall victim to malaria, and die. Coincidence brings them together, and their unspeakable shared suffering makes them friends. Their coping mechanisms are different – but parallel: both feel the need to “do” something. They are unable to go back to their old lives and their old homes. Martha chooses to stay on at the orphanage to “replace” Ben for a while looking after the children. Mary heads back home. But she is a woman on a mission. She is going to do whatever it takes to eradicate this disease that took her son. And she plans to start with a letter to the White House.

It would be wonderful if Mary and Martha were a true story.  I don’t of course mean that it would be great for two young men to die. My point is that many, many more than two already are dying. It would be great if we really could eradicate this disease completely. What the film basically does is show us exactly what malaria does. It brings pain and suffering. And not just to its victims. To millions more people, the families of the victims. Through Mary and Martha, we take a good, hard look at one of the greatest pains in this world, the pain of losing a child. We can then imagine this pain multiplied to an entire continent, millions of people. Then, maybe, we can understand what is truly at stake here and start doing something to stop it.

And if you are a bit concerned, like me at the beginning, that this will turn out to be little more than a very thinly veiled anti-malaria campaign, well, you’re wrong. I mean yes, the film makes no pretences about what it is trying to say, but the presentation is good. Hilary Swank is on top form as Mary, and double Oscar® nominee Brenda Blethin is an absolutely adorable Martha. It’s a good film. And if it makes you feel bad, you know what, possibly, all the better. Who knows, you might be the person to actually end up killing this disease off… Now wouldn’t that be something…

GREAT DIRECTORS MEDLY : CLINT EASTWOOD - "MILLION DOLLAR BABY"

Ok, I guess we all remember this one. Back in 2004 it wiped the floor with at the Oscars® and a lot of other reputed awards shows as well. We all heard of it. Some of us were vaguely surprised at the fact that Clint Eastwood (acting, producing and directing this one!) was still churning out winners. Some of us watched it. Others (me included) reckoned they had seen a few boxing films too many and decided to give it a miss. I was rather disappointed today, on watching it, to realize that my first judgment could also have worked. Million Dollar Baby is an excellent example of its genre, but not original. By a LONG shot.
The interesting one about this film is that it kinda mixes too films into one. It starts off as your typical common or garden sporting movie. Clint Eastwood is Frankie Dunn (heck, who am I kidding, he’s Clint Eastwood like in every single one of his films but that’s what he is called here anyway) and he is one of the best trainers for boxing in the US of A. He is a tough old fella, and has old-school principals. He runs a boxing gym along with his old friend Scrap (Morgan Freeman) and his life has been going on as it always has been until Maggie (Hilary Swank) enters his life. She is 31 (i.e. waaay too old to begin boxing) yet a complete beginner and yet she will NOT rest until Frank agrees to train her. Frank does not train girls. End of story. However Maggie persists. She persists and Scrap kinda gets on side and persists a bit with her and in the end (surprise surprise) Frank takes her on. She is as good as she claims to be. She works hard, develops a killer left hook and shoots up to the stars, match after match, round after round, win after win… Until the title match. The result of which will turn both her and Frank’s lives upside down – and I don’t mean in a good way…
Here the film breaks off and turns into a class A tear-jerker. A good tear-jerker but none the less, that’s what it is. By this time we have found out that Frank is estranged with his own daughter and that Maggie’s father is dead leaving her alone with her “hillbilly” family so Maggie and Frank are in fact a kind of surrogate father – daughter now. Frank is going to have to face is demons and both are going to have to make very, VERY tough choices.
I am in two minds about this one. There is nothing wrong with it. There are some brilliant “raaah” moments in it (you know the kind I mean don’t look all blank like that!). True, the fact that Maggie tends to knock her opponents out cold in the first round is a little well… Unbelievable AND annoying but Hilary Swank is so endearing as Maggie you tend to forgive her for that. Eastwood then takes every single tear-jerking storyline and sideline and stuffs it into the movie. I concede the fact that the film is an adaptation and I have not read the story it was adapted from but still… I mean, I reckon it could have been toned down a bit. The interesting thing is though, is that it works somehow. What I mean to say is if a mediocre filmmaker had tried to cram all the stuff Eastwood does into the film it would just be comical. Here it works after a fashion. You watch it to the end – and get excited about it – even though you can pretty much guess every single plot twist to the end. Not my kinda thing that, I like to be surprised (hence my love of Tarantino – I can never EVER guess where the guy is going to pop up from next if you see what I mean). It’s a good film, deserves the pat on the back that it got, and you should watch it. Do it in your spare time or something though, there is no rush.

SPREAD YOUR WINGS - "AMELIA"

As you all know by now, I have a soft spot for a true story. I also, you may have noticed, bend over backwards most of the time not to give “spoilers”. This is basically because I personally absolutely HATE spoilers. There is no point, I find, in watching a film if one knows the end, 90% of the time anyway. But then again, what do you do about true stories? Especially, if you’re talking about an historical event. I mean, if you’re watching a WW2 film, you’re basically screwed : no prizes for guessing what happened at the end of that one!! So there are exceptions to the rule. Especially, in the case of “Amelia”. The story of Amelia Earheart – first woman to cross the Atlantic solo by air.
But of course, some of you may never have heard of her – which is understandable. So let’s learn a bit more about her. Amelia Earheart (Hilary Swank in the film) was originally from Kansas. She was extremely interested in flying from a very young age – which was not considered the “done” thing in the early 30’s. That didn’t stop her from going as far as learning how to fly a plane though. Nor did it stop her from replying to an advertisement searching for a woman to participate in an attempt to cross the Atlantic by air. She is extremely excited but John Putnam, (Richard Gere in the film) the promoter of the event, very quickly brings her down to earth. She is to be no more than a passenger and a pretty face. This doesn’t stop her from attempting a solo flight (where she actually flies the plane) a few years later. Having seen her spirit and obstinacy, no one stands in her way – least of all John Putnam who is now her husband. Her success as an aviator makes her a celebrity in all the senses of the word. She has her own brands, all the fame she could want and a short affair with the dashing young entrepreneur Gene Vidal (Ewan McGregor in the film). But all that never eclipses the two great loves of her life: John Putnam and flight.
Now, you may or may not know how Amelia’s story ends. Personally, I did. But that did not for a minute stop me from loving every moment of the film. And another small surprise for me was a short appearance from Christopher Ecclestone who I grew especially fond of as a fan of Dr Who (and admit it – he has to be one of the best Dr Whos, right?). Now, you read the cast. No prizes for guessing that the acting is absolutely faultless. I was yet again reminded of the talents of Richard Gere – and I haven’t seen him around in quite a while but I guess that’s my doing not his 
The story you may find slightly Hollywoody – and it is a VERY Hollywood film but the thing is, it’s absolutely true. She herself was larger than life, their love with John Putnam (J.P. as she lovingly called him) was larger than life and the adventures her love of flying brought her were definitely much larger than life… In fact, you may find yourself having to remind yourself that all this actually happened but it did. In the end, however, as it’s usually the case with larger than life events and people, you will find you are swept away by it completely… It is not a “work of art” but I definitely do NOT regret watching it. And if you don’t know the story of Amelia – DEFINITELY watch it. Or at least research Amelia Earheart on the internet. 20th century true adventure stories are few and far between and I would NOT want you to miss this one!