User reviews

If people say and tell you this is inspiring, they are not wrong. Based on real events, this is really gripping and without knowing where this was heading (hadn't read anything about it, before I watched it), I really was surprised after about 30 minutes into the film. After that it was kind of obvious where it would go, but the acting and the telling of the story is really good.

Not to mention the central performances. Even if towards the end you get a bit of a "cliche" speech, you'd have to have a heart of stone, not to be touched by it at all. You could also argue about the husband and what he decides to do and how things get "solved", but after all that happened, it seems to be a suiting ending to it all

It is always sad to watch parents loose their children. Every child is so precious that when a parent looses its own child that parent is finished. It gives that parent a mission in life, which in the most cases is fruitless one, in this film may be it is not so fruitless.

I do not believe in the African countries. Most of those states are failed states. They do not have any chance of survival, and people in many of those countries are doomed. It is a real life risk for the white people to go there, my father almost lost his head going to Zaire on business. When Mobutu Sese Seko fled the country they devastated his compound to the ground. The guards and workers, who lived decent lives during those years are now barley surviving. I would never go to Africa unless you want to have a personal tragedy like this one.

I don't like when George said he didn't like Mandela T-Shirt. Mandela T-shirt is from Indonesia, one of world heritage. We should respect it. The script should edited. The part which vote didier drogba more popular than Mandela is very terrible.. Good scene in Africa and good adventure. Mary and Martha tell us something to do more for world. About bullying, the film didn't explain more. The part when Martha losing his son didn't tell to us clearly.. Why Mary didn't bring George to nearest hospital? if she bring to the nearest hospital, George will survived. Her husband is very wise, he can understand and try to keep his wife calm.. i like this movie, bring inspiration to us.. how malaria can kill many people. overall good stories.

This film was truly inspiring. It really changed my view on malaria, and really put into perspective how my life differs to others. Poor children are dying because of this horrible disease, and this film captures the awareness brilliantly. We are truly lucky to have live the lives we live, and this film proves that. I now put myself in others shoes before I react upon occurrences in my own life. Also, it meant a lot to me, because my mum knows "Ben's" mum, in real life. So having the thought in the back of my mind, that this story is true, really strengthens the realism. Yes, it makes it more sad, but all the more inspiring. The film is so well put together, and really thumps you with a whirlwind of emotion and sympathy. A very sad, but brilliant film. A must watch.

I watched this last night and am still thinking about it right now, all the time. The movie is to raise awareness of malaria, which kills children by the dozen each year. The film is extremely touching. It presents a strong mother-son bond for both Mary and George, and Martha and Ben. When tragedy strikes, it is presented in such a way only someone with a heart of stone would not be moved. The acting is of a high-quality -- you can feel exactly what the characters are feeling. Mary's speech towards the end is touching and moving; it gave me goosebumps and produced fresh tears in my eyes. Overall a brilliant film, I would definitely watch it again.

I thought this was a great movie. Too many critics out there. Watch it and feel good about sad things that happen in the world. Maybe it's a bit far fetched but then again, we can all make a difference in this world, you just have to want to do it.

How thick is the crust around your heart? Are you cold and tough as nails? Do you brag and boast about how you never feel anything watching a movie? They don't "affect" you?? Here's a dare. Go on this journey with Mary and Martha. See if you can get half way in without "FEELING" anything. I bet you can't! I'll bet you you go all the way to the credits with them! I'll even wager that 'emotion' thing you've been denying existed pulls the moisture from your eyes and fills your heart with compassion!! I can't lose this gamble and your entire family will be winners for watching!

We waste so much time worrying about such trivial things that aren't worth worrying about. Things that don't really matter. Our fancy cars. Our nails getting done. Our hair getting done. All while serious issues like scores of children dying from malaria in the real world. That's Reality. And this movie is emotional. The entire 2nd half of the movie was seen through tears. Sad tears. And triumphant tears.

Read the other reviews if interested in plot. The persons involved in creating this film may have had great motivation. The time & talents of Swank & Bletheyn are wasted. The dialogue is lame :"Is you husband cute? I think so." Who says stuff like that?The relationships seem false. The scenes with medical personnel are laughable. The scenery is interesting. I could not watch the entire film- it was aggravating.

Talking about matters like bullying and malaria is very important, but the execution is poor. "Is your husband cute?" "He must be, or you wouldn't have married him." What kind of dialogue is that? First, beauty is subjective, and people marry each other for a combination of factors. Anyway, this conversation did not sit well in the movie. How about the fact that the mother takes her child to another country and when he says Mandela's t-shirt is weird she doesn't correct him? I mean, you are free to have your likes and dislikes, but ever wondered why such a kid has that opinion? Culture. She should have explained to him that what is strange for him is normal and cool for other people. She could have told him beauty and wonders come in so many shapes, colors and sizes. "Oh they will like to see you because you are prettier than me." In a movie with such a serious theme characters seem to be too shallow. Women should not compete. Again the simplistic idea that beauty is objective. And again, characters seem so worried about looks and things that are secondary. The movie tries poorly to talk about important matters with an immature and shallow rhetoric. Can we stop caring about how people look for one second? And as others said, we don't know characters enough to like them and Mary is very selfish for not caring what her husband or son wants. And why was she offended by others crying? I don't get it. Maybe they should laugh? At a funeral??? And yes, the story would be a lot better if told from the point of view of a native. The cast is good. The movie not so much. It doesn't touch us. I watched the movie in another language, so exact words might not be accurate but the idea is the same.

I like to believe that neither movie viewing nor reviewing should be excessive..; and ideally.. by living a disciplined life that is spiritually unfettered by name-brand fashion wear and/or speciality breads from French bakeries.., one can, with restraint and the beatific blessing of "The Universe" ride a perpetual wave of beautiful, magical synchronicity, where one can watch their personal life mirrored in the movies one sees. Simply put.., there MUST be rewards for walking the way of the peasant. To wit.....

Though my own departure from mafia life was in fact quite cordial (and we remain on good terms), Wonder Wheel, for example, (my previously viewed movie) did accurately reflect both my unhealthy attraction to dangerous men, as well as my inexplicable semi-loyalty to my husband, who was, in fact, also a carny who operated a merry-go-round back in the day -- well, ok, it was actually a used car lot.., but the similarities were uncanny. Thus (keep your eye on the Queen).., mid viewing of Mary And Martha, I was not surprised to see that the plot was largely about malaria.., in that only a few days earlier, I was told (in the bread aisle) that my ex-pastor's daughter (a missionary to Africa) had contracted and struggled precariously with malaria for several weeks. This happens all the time, is normal for me, and the main reason why I've never watched Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

Now.., if one wants to believe that this film is merely a plaintive cry against malaria, that's fine.., in which case it did a pretty great job..; and thus, if one so chooses, they/you can dig out your checkbook, and send a donation to some vague, off-shore, corporate charity, possibly concocted by the same vague Illuminati overlords, who both probably financed this film.. and brought us, for example, the World Wildlife Fund and its ever-lovable founder, Prince Philip, a swell monarch, and the single most prolific slayer of endangered African species this side of the Temple Bar.

In other words.., imho, like most (Hollywood) movies of recent decades, Mary and Martha was more propaganda than plot, more indoctrination about obsoleting inter-gender relationships than soliciting empathy over third-world diseases. While superficially about malaria-related deaths in Africa, it seemed clear to me early on.. that Mary and Martha was basically just another hit piece against males.. drowning us in a mist of firebrand rhetoric aimed at "liberating" women even further from (white) male oppression -- eloquently providing more and more rationalizations for downgrading a wife's role in marriage to a take-it-or-leave-it pastime, bidding her to drift whichever way the wind blows, and poetically claiming responsibility for whatever strums her heart strings, while scorning her obviously supercilious and demeaning role as wife.. as well as her tedious and tunnel-visioned husband, who selfishly sees his function as merely working doggedly.. (to put specialty breads from French bakeries on the table).

For gift-wrapping these messages, we have (oh, let's see) a Hillary Swank (usually considered delicious) as Mary.., while her diffident, seldom-smiling, not-very-appealing husband wore a barely tolerable physiognomy, which otherwise would never be cast as a leading man. The same goes for her father (James Woods). From there.., most of the other slips and dips of indoctrination are far more subtle and veiled.. as is usually the case, and de rigueur for effective Hollywood propaganda.

It gets even worse later on.., as Martha (a polite and seemingly good-natured Brit) comes center stage.., where the unfortunate, albeit (we must remember) insufferable male characters now get double-teamed, as it were -- Mary and Martha calmly portraying strong, patient women who've borne many a care, enduring their men's man-speak and insensitivities with forbearing smiles.., while their countenances hint at borderline disgust. The visual subtext could just as well have been one of exchanging thinly veiled winks, denoting their thinly stretched tolerance of men.. suspended in a tincture of perpetual suffering. I think you get my drift.

But I am nothing.. if not fair. And my next cinematic goal is to locate and review a counterpoint film -- something perhaps showing a gentle, noble, virtuous male (who, let's say, works for Doctors Without Borders).. ensnared and tormented in the clutches of a shallow, petty, entitled, and vindictive wife. I bid you.. wish me well.., as currently I'm having difficulty finding the existence of any such movie.

Postscript: There is an irony in all this -- namely, that the unfortunately unconvincing but nonetheless REAL globalist agenda.. is not concerned about the continent of Africa or its people. Never was. That is.., historically, the corporatized NWO overlords have only cared about Africa's resources, not its people, except as a source of cheap labor to extract said resources. The agenda, as expressed, say, in Agenda 21 or 2030.. and/or the Georgia Guidestones in fact calls for at least an 80% reduction in global population. Africa will not be a priority. So, if anyone has any plan to address the malaria problem in Africa.., it's probably to send more mosquitoes.

cheers!!😇

Anyone expecting the usual Richard Curtis fare here will get a shock - this is emotional stuff indeed, and does not make for an easy watch at all.

It covers important issues, but it wasn't my sort of thing.