My Mother, My Friend
From the Post-grad Victorian College of the Arts Documentary stream (now called the Faculty of the VCA & Music, Melb Uni)
5th commandment on show
Joey George's My Mother, My Friend, has a powerful underlying message. When Jenny speaks to her Mother; "Thankyou for making me, and making our family beautiful", she shows true appreciation for all the love and guidance her mother has given her.
Judaism, Christianity and Islam, recognise the importance of the 10 Commandments. Jenny here is showing a great example of the 5th commandment: honour your father and mother.
The film highlights just how strong and loving the bond between a parent and child can be. We should strive to honour our parents in our own way. How do you honour your parents?
Renewed love for mum
Every child’s best friend is their mother.
This particular short film quickly leaves you with an impression of how one thinks of their mother. This film is a genuine attempt to show the feelings of Jenny, who lost her mother. She explains how she loved her mother and how much she now misses her in her daily life.
I don’t think this film’s content is religious, but it is about human values and family relations. The mother-daughter relationship is shown beautifully. It made me feel more special about my mother than before.
I love you, mum.
Lost on the final frame
[My Mother, My Friend] This short film emotionally enveloped me. It portrayed death as the random, frightening, tragic fact of life that it is. In the protagonist's reflection on the moments leading up to her mother’s death, I was on the edge of my seat and lost for breath. However, despite her honesty and bravery for sharing this story, she lost me in the final frame.
As an atheist, to me death is the end. That is what makes it sad, and that is what makes life so special. I feel the prospect of Heaven and eternal life, whilst understandably comforting in moments of death, is contrary to evidence and merely wishful thinking. To me, it belittles the importance of living in the moment, as well the emotionally devastating reality of losing a loved one.
The hopeful and tranquil notion of Heaven - no doubt one of the most widely held beliefs in our society - comes so naturally to us that we do not realise the logical and rational contradictions of the concept unless we stop and think about it clearly.
Still, I learnt from this film, as much as I've learnt with my own experiences of death, that we must live each day as if it could be our last, and to make it known to those close to us how much we love and appreciate them.
Has Grace, delivers Wisdom
[From May 2010 intro]
Alike Alove and My Mother, My Friend have Grace and deliver Wisdom. My Mother, My Friend is on the surface a simple documentary, but its protagonist/narrator is wonderfully candid and a great storyteller to boot. She recalls the moment she is told her mother will die, “she’s going to die”, and at such a moment, her only response is silence, and the film captures this silence, this deep existential sorrow of death, with… yes, silence, no music, no commentary. Now that’s wisdom.