Mary and Martha (2013)

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

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.

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.

Little George (Lux Haney-Jardin) is getting bullied at school and when Mary, his mother(Hilary Swank) finds out, she decides to take him on vacation to the beautiful landscapes of South Africa in a bid to escape suburban life for a while. During their stay in a touristic village not far from the South African capital of Cape Town, Everything is going great until one night when little George is bitten by a mosquito hence infecting him with malaria, the deadliest disease in the world. He subsequently dies on the hospital bed three days later.A few Miles out of the country, Ben (Sam Claflin) has been assigned in Mozambique to teach English at a local primary school. There he meets beautiful Micaela (Nokuthula Ledwaba) with whom he falls in love. Their romance doesn't last because Ben too suffers the same fate as little George, one fatal mosquito bite takes his life.The movie follows the lives of two mothers, Mary and Martha (Brenda Blethyn) the latter whose story is analogous to Mary's- brought together by the tragic loss of their sons to Malaria. Their bond quickly grows strong as they relate to each other's tragedy.Well, this is a nice plot for an inspirational movie but unfortunately it was not that inspirational to me. Why? because although the movie runs 90 minutes, everything happened too quickly I mean events just flashed before our eyes as if in fast forward and to me that just took away the connection i was supposed to have with the characters and the story itself. It's almost as if you were watching the trailer; they summarized everything so dully. Not to mention the fact that we didn't get the chance to understand and connect with the victims (Ben & George) better in order to care enough for them. Ben and Micaela's budding romance isn't supplemented at all either. Aside from the cheesy storyline, there's something else that doesn't work for this movie. That thing is the fact that, neither Mary nor Martha would have cared a minute for the millions of kids dying in Africa from Malaria had it not been for the death of their own. This means, i presume, that for the white community to care for third world countries something tragic must happen to one of their own first. Would Mary have fought so hard for the senator's attention if that mosquito had never bit George? Surely not, but I'm certain she was already aware of malaria's evil deeds on the African Continent. But the film is of humanitarian aspirations so..it doesn't matter really.This movie, however, does stay true & genuine to its cause and Hilary Swank does a great job in her acting; her eyes are wet with lingering tears throughout the movie and her performance is quite believable. Brenda Blethyn (Martha)'s performance is average "Mom behavior" that any mother would have enough inspiration to deliver. The whole idea of "Mary and Martha" is great but it just doesn't have that spark you know, it does get really sad at times but it just lacks that warm atmosphere that you find in movies like Schindler's List, Pursuit of Happiness or Savior.In conclusion, this is the kind of movie that will gain praise from moms all over the world because let's be honest, what is worse than losing your child? More so if you're partly responsible?It hasn't worked for me, alas, but...what the hell, my mother loved it.

This story of mothers fighting for a cause is both inspiring and informing the audience on the real problems that face out current world whether we are aware of them. Mary (Hilary Swank) brings her son to Africa at the same time as Martha's (Brenda Blethyn) son Ben comes to be a teacher to young kids in the country. Both women lose their sons to Malaria and when Mary comes back after the lose she meets Martha and the women come together while in different continents to bring more help to the issues of Malaria in the world. The story was inspiring especially when seeing this women be in great grief but trying to fight to make a difference especially the character of Mary who really was the main character of the film and when the scenes were showed of her son dying of the terrible it very emotional in both how it was directing, written and acted by Hilary Swank. Hilary Swank is a great film actress but lately she has seem to have taken a break from any film worthy of her talents but with her role as Mary I believe it may be a return to form. From her reaction to her son George's death to her final speech in front of some government people. Throughout she is asked to not show her emotions even when she addresses it at the funeral of her son where she does not cry. Brenda Blethyn plays Martha and she is just as impressive as Swank while she appears in less of the movie. Her emotions are all over her face and it was very well played by Blethyn. The film was strong written, directed and acted by it's stars Swank and Blethyn that it was a great movie.MOVIE GRADE: B+ (MVP: Hilary Swank)