mammoth (2009)

mammoth by lukas moodysson

the plot is centred on the life of a family with four members: the father, a video game creater; the mother, a surgeon; the maid, which lives with them; and the daughter, which spends most of her time with the maid. the father spends his time travelling; the mother spends her time in surgery; the maid taking care of the daughter although her kids are living in Philippines and she is just one more emigrant in new york city sending money back home. 

the story revolves around the life of a mother, a maid and a daughter that sees as a mother the maid; the father which visits thailand and shows through an ocidental perspective the cultural differences and problems in thailand; and finally, on the day by day of the maid's children in Philippines, showing how it is to live in the circumstances of poverty in which money is needed to keep a family together. 

the father is played by gael garcía bernal and the mother by michelle williams, which are two of my favourite actors. although considering this, it is probably my least favourite from both. gael garcia has always the strongest roles, full of emotion (for example, y tu mama tambien or mala educacion, or even la science des rêves); and michelle williams after watching her in "blue valentine" and "wendy and lucy", it seems like this character falls behind. but mainly i think it comes to the fact that the violence of the movie is pushed to other roles, such as the maid's children.

 finally, to conclude i would compare this movie to babel due to the drama and the different lives perspectives connected together.

note: the moment in which "house of cards" by radiohead starts playing is magical.

rating: 5/5