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Since 1996 |
Your Gateway to Music and More from a Christian Perspective Slow down as you approach the gate, and have your change ready....
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Motherland
(documentary)
Participants: Mary Helena, Kathy Jimenez, Anne Magill, Barbara Crandall, Lauren Warner, Debbi Berto and Hazel (South Africa) Director: Jennifer Steinman Cinematography: Mira Chang and Karen Landsberg Composers: Essence and Eric Holland Smush Media/Gigantic Digital No rating but could be PG Running Length: 80 minutes People heal in different ways. There is the strong and silent type, usually associated with men and then there is weeping, usually associated with women. Somewhere in-between lies a territory that combines strong, silent, weeping and a host of other emotions expressed physically and mentally and that is what you see in Jennifer Steinman’s documentary, Motherland. The title comes from one woman, who is part of a group traveling to Africa, and when she touches the soil, says she has come “to the Motherland.” It is a telling moment. Statistics tell us that each year, eight million families around the world have the loss of a child. Director Jennifer Steinman has taken six American women who have lost children, many through violence, and transported the women to Africa. The idea is if you meet someone who has larger problems than you do, your situation may be smaller in comparison. Thus, we meet Mary (Racine, WI), Kathy (Santa Rosa, CA), Anne (San Francisco, CA), Barbara (Dixon, CA), Lauren (Oakland, CA) and Debbi (Windsor, CA). Their stories are moving and sad, as they tell of the circumstances surrounding the death of their children, ranging from suicide to motorcycle accident to gunshot victim. The children were in teens to late twenties and the stories are told in-between what is happening to the women on their 17-day African trip. The ladies are housed in Oudtshoorn at Hazel’s Homestay, which is the U.S. version of Bed and Breakfast. Hazel has her own story of grief, having lost her daughter. Light moments are provided from two women sharing a small room with twin beds (no closet but an armoire), to riding an ostrich, dancing with children at a day care center and attending a church service. Along the way, the audience begins to see signs of a settling of emotion in the women, the beginning of acceptance and reaching out to help others. An example is helping at a day care center for children of lower-income workers. There are 230 children here and four teachers. The women talk among themselves with the camera as another person in the room. We learn that in marriages where there has been the death of a child, only 10 percent of the marriages continue. 90 percent fail. What the audience sees and hears are different ways of coping with grief. There is the easy way of looking backward and wishing things would be as they were. Standing still and resting for awhile, which can turn into a long while, or moving forward with a project, such as to help other children through your deceased child’s name. An example is the suicide of Anne’s daughter and the beginning of a mental health program for teens in the late daughter’s name. Touching moments are provided by visiting the grave of Hazel’s daughter and Mary and Anne, who traveled to Africa with the ashes of their dead children. There is no time table for grief. Moving through the grief process can take hours, months, years, and sometimes never. What is known is that you can’t go back and recover the past. It is there, in all its glory, but still in the past. Today is here in its immediacy and tomorrow is the future just waiting to be scripted. Recovery is what you make of it and as one woman states, it isn’t just you losing a child, it is the entire family and the community losing that person. There are others to be helped beside yourself. “Motherland” shows how six women choose to deal with their situation. Photography is beautifully done and the background music is a highlight to the individual scenes. 
Copyright 2009 Marie Asner Filmer456@aol.com Note: Premieres nationally on August 26th on Gigantic Digital Cinema Watch the film @ www.giganticdigital.com and for tickets for 3-days unlimited viewing commercial-free
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