Mother of Mine

What a powerful film.  I can easily say that Mother of Mine told the most intense visual story I have experienced in a long time.  It really hit me when I left class after the first day of viewing and I was still thinking about it on my bike ride home.  I guess what really hit home for me during any WWII film/presentation is that my grandpa was actually apart of it.  While this event seems so far from memory, people still living and, in this case, related to me, were there and actively apart of the events.

Also, I never know about the relocation of Finnish children to Sweden.  In my life there, has always been a heavy focus on the Holocaust of WWII and the effects/consequences of that.  So to be shifted outside of Poland, Germany and the Uk and placed in Scandinavia was eye opening.

The story was incredible sad and heartfelt.  Actually, totally unexpected.  Beyond the obvious story-line and events that took place.  Seeing the methods of transportation and communication used at that time in Scandinavia were elements that I was using to compare Scand to the US at that time.  It appeared that the technologies were very similar in those places.  Seeing the country-side of both Finland and also painted a nice picture of the landscapes in those countries.

I liked how the story was organized.  Starting with Eero as a grown up finally ready to talk to his mother and his mother distant and indifferent.  As the story unfolds, his relationship with his mother changes dramatically in many directions.  This can also be said about his relationship with his other "mother", Signe.  Thought it was interesting how those relationships played off eac other.

In the end, 2-thumps-up in my book.  Definitely a movie I will recommend in the future and an important topic to understand in the history of Finland and Sweden.
       

Virgin Spring Response

I found the film to be quite interesting. Especially for having been filmed in the 1960s, it seems like it must have brought up a lot of issues in society. The film, comes off quite dark with many controversial themes. The rape scene in particular was shocking to me. I can only image when the film came out it must have been reacted to far worse. What came across the most to me as one of the most shocking issues was the questioning of religion throughout the film.