Film: “Mama”
3.5 Stars
Borderline Personality Disorder is easily defined as one having clear and unstable emotions towards themselves and others. When this happens, it’s very hard to try and communicate and reach an understanding of what’s bothering that individual. Unless confronted right away by some sort of therapy, or physician, the outcome can turn out something like in the case of the film, “Mama.”
After taking three lives, one of whom being his wife, a disgruntled man kidnaps his two children and continues the crisis down a snow covered road where an accident would later take place. Free from harm, the man along with his daughters walks a ways until discovering an old abandoned cabin in the woods. Trying to understand what he has just done, the man decides that the best thing to do for he and his little girls is to take both his and their lives. But before being able to pull the trigger on his oldest daughter, the man is interrupted from behind by some strange dark figure and wrestled in the air until said neck is broken.
From there, you can basically see the tagline of this shadowy dark figure playing the mom role in the two young girls lives for the next five years.
Before going to see the movie, I didn’t know much about it. Most of the time, whenever there’s a scary movie playing at the movie theater, I like to make sure it’s going to do the overall job of scaring me. As is with any horror flick, the main objective is to do just that.
The overall plot of this film had me wondering. For those who cannot go into a film with the idea that ghosts and demons probably don’t exist, and have no actions towards human beings, then stop reading right now.
The one big thing I want to touch up on this film was the acting of both child actors. I can’t draw conclusions to exactly how old they are in real life, but both are still pretty young.
When the new mother (Jessica Chastain) has to provide most of the caring for little girls whom she wants nothing to do with, the actions and emotions of the girls really shows that they feel the same way. A floating apparition who acts as a motherly figure to two abandoned girls who have nothing but each other to look up to is what drives the movie.
Is any of that in any shape or form possible? No, but one has to have a certain belief that it is.
And finally when the oldest daughter comes to realize how life should properly be lived, she pops out of her shell and starts realizing that living a normal life with real parents is the better way to go.
The overall ending will surprise most people and have you asking questions as to why the film went in the direction it did, but this is always the truth when it comes to the final decision of who lives and who dies in any horror classic.
The director Andres Muschietti, who has three awards under his belt including one for this film under the category Directors to Watch, is definitely trying to make a name for himself in the upcoming film world. Most also know “Mama” executive producer Guillermo del Toro, who was not only the executive producer for this film but also has directed many well known titles such as “Pan’s Labyrinth,” “Hellboy” and “Blade 2.”
Overall, the film completes its mission in wanting to be scary. Things popping up, sudden loud sounds and a ghostly character with the look of a demon will keep the hood of your sweatshirt well over your eyes.
