Mother of George (2013)

Powerful

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Best movie ever!

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

The plot is based on a Nigerian culture. Ayodele and Adenike gets married, and on the night of the wedding Ma Ayo shows Adenike a fertility bead and tells her to put round her waist.She drinks the herbal tea bu still to no avail.she is being disturbed my Ma Ayo.Adenike knows that if she does not give birth her husband's family will take in another wife for her husband,even if he doesn't want to.Sade, her friend tells her about adoption but she wants to give birth her self.She finally found a doctor that will help but Ayodele says he can't afford it. Ma Ayo told her to seek help from her brother-in-law,Biyi.She finally gets pregnant but Ayodele walks out of marriage.

Rhythm is often defined by locales - while mountain people seem to be rather slow by nature, those born close to sea shores appear to be faster in their movements. So I wouldn't call this film "slow", but idiosyncratically paced, admitting that I might be wrong: maybe Nigerians are faster than what I believe, judging from this film. Then it would be a decision taken by director Andrew Dosunmu, making dialogs and reactions calm to the extreme. I could take this, but what really distanced me was composition within the frame: too often actions are seen in close-ups, even in moments when large crowds are gathered. Maybe we have been conditioned so much by traditional cinema that we expect to see a reaction from a listener when told something that might shock him or her... as the moment when the pregnant Adenike confronts her brother-in-law in his apartment. But once this is accepted and dealt with, one can enjoy this strong drama of choices, tradition and deeply-rooted beliefs, beyond any moral judgment of what is right or wrong. In spite of the endless list of producers and executive producers who capitalize on the work of the creative team, the most remarkable features in "Mother of George" are (besides the performances by Danai Gurira and Yaya DaCosta, as Nike and Sade, the two young women subjected to matriarchy rule and dumb males) the cinematography by Bradford Young and Mobolaji Dawodu's beautiful traditional costumes. The brightness and colors brought by the use of natural and artificial light and the garments, create an atmosphere of hopefulness and joy in the midst of so much sadness and obsession with parenthood. See it.

"Mother of George" is a film with a strong and interesting cross-cultural message. It's also a film that would probably be seen as a feminist movie--though it is something that can be enjoyed, or at least appreciated, by all.The film begins with a wedding--and what a beautiful wedding it is. The guests are all Nigerian Americans and they are dressed in their finest and most color clothing. During the course of the wedding (which takes up a significant part of the film), the new wife, Nike (Danai Gurira) is told again and again how important it is that she have a baby boy as soon as possible. Culturally, there is a HUGE amount of pressure on her--and it's pretty obvious at this point that Nike will have difficulty conceiving. This is made so much worse by her mother-in-law--a very traditional African mother who insists that Nike either become pregnant or her son find another wife! While Ayo (Isaach De Bankolé) is not about to get another wife, he also is bound by masculine expectations and he forbids his wife to get infertility testing and he adamantly refuses to have himself tested. What is poor Nike to do? Well, when she listens to her mother-in-law's plan, it throws her for a loop. This film has a lot to say. Yet, interestingly, it DIDN'T have a lot of dialog and managed to say a lot without words. Its theme of women as baby machines and their devaluation by societies is hard-hitting and sad. Equally sad is its way that men are trapped by their machismo. There's a lot to this film--and one that, in some ways, cuts across all cultures. Well worth seeing.

An intimate study of motherhood, and fatherhood, within an alternative culture transplanted from Africa to America. As everywhere, cultural pressures lead to choices that have consequences far beyond hopes.To be a mother is the most important duty of a wife; so she is told. When Danai cannot fulfill her duty, she seeks solutions both within her heritage and from Western medicine. When she finally succeeds, the choices she has made threaten to destroy her.This film is exquisitely photographed and remarkably well acted, especially by Adenike Balogun in the role of Danai, trying her best to do when she believes is right for the husband she loves.