Mother of Mine

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Mother of Mine ★★★ Aideista Parhain 2005

During World War II, when conflict breaks out between Finland and Russia, 9-year-old Eero (Majaniemi) is sent to live with a neutral family in Sweden by his Finnish mother (Maijala) after his solider father is killed. She believes he will be safer there. The lad adapts well to the new language and although his foster father (Nygvist) takes a shine to him immediately, his harsh new mother (Lundqvist) takes some time to warm up to him. When he finally returns home, all parties have much trauma to endure, the final repair coming when Eero attends his surrogate mother's funeral and then visits his elderly Finnish mum, finally understanding the motive behind her difficult choice long ago. Visually pleasing, emotionally engaging, with a fabulous score to boot. Finnish and Swedish with subtitles. 111m/C DVD . FI Michael Nyquist, Topi Majaniemi, Maria Lundqvist, Kari-Pekka Toivonen; D: Klaus Haro; W: Jimmy Karlsson, Kirsi Vikman; C: Jarkko T. Laine; M: Tuomas Kantelinen.

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