IMDb RATING
6.8/10
3.7K
YOUR RATING
Two mothers lose their sons to malaria.Two mothers lose their sons to malaria.Two mothers lose their sons to malaria.
- Awards
- 1 nomination total
Zethu Dlomo-Mphahlele
- Patience
- (as Zethu Dlomo)
Bea Miller
- Funeral Singer
- (as Beatrice Miller)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
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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!
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!!😇
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!!😇
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.
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 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 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.
Did you know
- TriviaThe character of Martha is based on Jo Yirrell, a British woman who became a special ambassador for Malaria No More UK after her 20-year-old son Harry died of malaria in 2005 while volunteering in Ghana. The character of Mary is fictional.
- GoofsIn the local restaurant scene, the waitress speaks Spanish while serving Mary and her son, but Mozambique's official language is Portuguese.
- Quotes
Mary's Father: Well, you can't deny it's an interesting area.
Mary: It's an interesting area?
Mary's Father: Yeah, I've been looking into it. Did you know that if you take every single person killed in a terrorist attack around the world in the last 20 years, and you add to that every life lost in the Middle East since 1967, the 6-Day War, and you add to this every single American life lost in Vietnam and Korea, and every single American engagement since then--Iraq, Afghanistan, if you take all those lives, and you multiply it by two? That's the number of children who died of malaria every single year.
- Crazy creditsMentioned in the End Credits: "Produced with the assistance of the Department of Trade and Industry South Africa, who does not accept any liability for the content and does not necessarily support such content."
- ConnectionsFeatures Billy Elliot (2000)
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