Mother and Child 2009

     Nearly forty years ago, Karen was a young girl of fourteen, she is pregnant and she gives her baby up for adoption.  Now, it is the present day and we meet three very different women.  Each woman struggles to maintain control of her life.  Karen, is a now a health care professional and she has a lot of heart but she never shows it.  Karen gave up her daughter and she thinks about her every day.  She is married to Paco and they met at work.  Karen has never recovered from giving her daughter away.  Some of her feelings have turned to bitterness and she can suddenly lash out at the people around her.  Paco persuades Karen to write a letter to her adult daughter.  She leaves the letter at the Catholic agency that arranged the adoption.  Elizabeth is a smart and successful lawyer.  Elizabeth is Karen’s adopted daughter, she becomes pregnant and she dies while giving birth to her child.  No one knows about the baby and no one steps forward to claim the child.  Lucy wants to have a child and she has applied to adopt a baby.  She adopts Elizabeth’s baby.
     There is a LOT going on in this film!!  There is a gentleness along with being strong, moving, powerful and there are also funny elements.  The subject matter portrayed is heavy and some adults and older teens may become overwhelmed.  The pace is slightly slow but it allows you to absorb, contemplate and feel emotions along with the characters.  5* (I really liked this movie)  

125 min, Drama directed and written by Rodrigo Garcia with Naomi Watts, Annette Bening, Kerry Washington, Alexandria M. Salling, Connor Kramme, Eileen Ryan, Samuel L. Jackson, Cherry Jones, David Ramsey, Kay D’Arcy, Bradford Alex, Jimmy Smith, Elpidia Carrillo Simone Lopez, Carla Gallo.  

Note:  Imdb 7.2 out of 10, Roger Ebert 3 1/2*, Rotten Tomatoes 78% critic with 127 critics 76% audience with 6950 ratings, The Guardian 2* out of 5* Peter Bradshaw, Common Sense Medai S. Jhoanna Robeldo age 17+, 3* positive 1* role models, 2* violence, 4* sex, 4* language, 1* drinking, drug, smoking, Pop Sugar 4* out of 5*.  

Special Note:  Naomi Watts spent only eight days on set for her leading role. The director and writer Rodrigo Garcia is the son of Gabriel Garcia Marquez.  Gabriel was known affectionately as Gabo or Gabito throughout Latin America.  He is a writer of Columbian novels and he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1982 for his 1967 novel, One Hundred Years of Solitude.  He died at the age of 87 on April 17, 2014.