Mother of Mine (2005)

During World War II, more than 70,000 Finnish children were evacuated to neutral Sweden to avoid the conflict. From the award-winning Klaus Härö (Elina: As If I Wasn't There (2002)), "... See full summary »

Director:

Klaus Härö

Writers:

Veikko Aaltonen (based on a screenplay by), Heikki Hietamies (novel)

Stars:

Topi Majaniemi, Marjaana Maijala, Maria Lundqvist

16 wins & 10 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Topi Majaniemi	...	Eero Lahti
Marjaana Maijala	...	Kirsti Lahti - Eeron äiti
Maria Lundqvist	...	Signe Jönsson - äiti Ruotsissa
Michael Nyqvist	...	Hjalmar Jönsson - isä Ruotsissa
Esko Salminen	...	Eero Lahti - nykyaika
Aino-Maija Tikkanen	...	Kirsti Lahti - nykyaika
Kari-Pekka Toivonen	...	Lauri - Eeron isä
Brasse Brännström	...	Isoisä Ruotsissa
Penny Elvira Loftéen	...	Siv - naapurintyttö
Ia Langhammer	...	Anna
Leif Andrée	...	Gunnar
Marie Göranzon	...	Rouva Grevnäs
Åsa Persson	...	Opettajatar
Gustav Wiklund	...	Pappi
Patrick Henriksen	...	Tuomas - kotiavustaja

Storyline

During World War II, more than 70,000 Finnish children were evacuated to neutral Sweden to avoid the conflict. From the award-winning Klaus Härö (Elina: As If I Wasn't There (2002)), "Mother of Mine" tackles that painful patch of history in a tale of 9-year-old Eero, a child who increasingly feels abandoned by his biological Finnish mother and yet not attached to his Swedish surrogate mom. When he is returned to Finland, his confusion intensifies.

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Plot Keywords:

mother daughter relationship | male protagonist | finnish | swedish | continuation war | 

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Genres:

Drama | War

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

Submitted by Finland to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (U.S.A.) for consideration for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar at the 78th Academy Awards.

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Soundtracks

Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht!
Composed by Franz Xaver Gruber (1818)
Lyrics written by Joseph Mohr (1818)
Swedish lyrics written by Oscar Mannström (1915)
Musical Arrangement by Mats Bergström

User Reviews

Amazing lucid revelation of complex humanities

Haven't been so totally blown away by a movie for quite a while - it's rare in Hong Kong that all the 5 audience in the cinema all ended up soaking in tears - if that didn't tell you enough about the movie..

There were movies, like the Dutch movie Simon, that tried to capture the subtle dynamics among fathers and sons, or the Canadian one, Barbarian Invasion. This movie, however, has yet overrode those movies by its subtle but yet delicately constructed interplay among father, mother and the son. More so it touched so much upon young man's hope and tie with the mother. Just when you think that was the whole thing about the movie (i.e. mother and son, anti-war wake-up call), the movie got brilliantly galvanized by the two women in how they dealt with themselves and the motherhood, and what they wanted, adding a potent twist to the narrative as well as gently tweaking the emotions of the audience.

For such a long time there was no movies that was able to employ such a basic and simple setting but yet so able to capture the multi-faceted humanities in such an embedded, compiling way.

Highly recommend this movie.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [Finland] (Finnish, Swedish, English)

Country:

Finland Sweden

Language:

Finnish Swedish

Release Date:

30 September 2005 (Finland)

Also Known As:

Mother of Mine

Filming Locations:

Helsinki, Finland

Box Office

Budget:

EUR2,900,000 (estimated)

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$2,851,888

Company Credits

Production Co:

Matila Röhr Productions (MRP), Omega Film & Television AB, Film i Skåne

Technical Specs

Runtime:

111 min 111 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Black and White Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1