HOLLYWOOD HUES
Anatomy of divorce

Alejandro Cardenas-Amelio’s My Mother’s Tears is 95 minutes of taut drama with
no loose footage, writes Ervell E. Menezes

Vittorio de Sica’s The Children Are Watching Us is about the children’s reaction to their parents crumbling marriage. The impact it has on young, impressionable minds. My Mother’s Tears, in the IFFI 2008 competition section, is a similar Argentinian-German film, which deals with a little boy Alex’s reaction to his parents’ failing marriage.

Alejandro Cardenas-Amelio’s My Mother’s Tears opens with a grown up Alex visiting Buenos Aires to see his estranged father Carlos, who is on his deathbed. He had separated from his wife Lizzie over a decade ago and his mother had forgiven him. But not his son Alex who was still suffering from that rupture.

Actually, Carlos and Lizzie were a happily married couple who had shifted from Buenos Aires to Berlin where they lived in a factory full of weird folks. The dislocation from South America to Europe doesn’t go well for Carlos who is still missing home very much. Lizzie on the other hand adapts well to the changed circumstance and life chugs along harmlessly.

When Alex’s school friend’s parents divorce, he is troubled and asks his mother if she will do the same but she allays his fears and all seems honky-dory even for the viewer. But slowly, ever so slowly, cracks begin to show and before long "the cookie crumbles."

The rupture takes place almost suddenly and why, because they cannot adapt to the change of country. A seemingly trivial issue grows by leaps and bounds and we get a ringside view of the anatomy of divorce.

Director Cardenas-Amelio unfolds the narrative with utmost subtlety. The assortment of characters helps to provide dramatic relief and the growing up of little Alex is dealt with most impressively. There is a female cousin he has for whom he experiences the early signs of romance. Then the school keeps him busy but all of a sudden this trauma overwhelms him. It is the impact on a young mind that has such a devastating impact.

That Alex finally comes terms with the issue is what My Mother’s Tears is all about and young Roman Russo does an excellent job in the lead role ably supported by Rafael Ferro and Alice Dwyer in supporting roles as the parents. It is 95 minutes of taut drama with scarcely any loose footage. Divorce is a common enough subject in cinema, these days, but it is the holistic manner in which it is dealt with that stands on like a beacon in the dark. It is one of the best films in IFFI 2008.

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