Mother of Mine [Äideistä parhain]
Directed by Klaus Härö; based on the novel by Heikki Hietamies
The title and cover picture had me wondering if this was going to be some man’s soppy paean to his mama. But no, it turned out to be a quiet yet quite affecting story about a Finnish boy, Eero Lahti, one of many Finnish children sent off to Sweden during World War II for safekeeping. Told in retrospect from middle age, after Eero’s Swedish foster mother has died, the film’s overall theme is of finally coming to terms with painful, conflicting emotions of the past and with the well-meaning but wounding mistakes both his mothers made.
Eero’s father is killed in the war, leaving Eero’s mother Kirsti too distraught and worried about Eero’s safety to cope. It appears to Eero as if his mother has lost interest in him and abandoned him to strangers. When he finally arrives at his assigned home in Sweden, his surrogate mother Signe Jönsson, obviously expecting a girl, doesn’t seem to want him either. He doesn’t know Swedish, doesn’t understand Signe’s sharp criticisms, is understandably resentful and unhappy, despite the kindness shown him by Signe’s husband Hjalmar. Over time this changes, especially after Eero learns about the daughter Signe and Hjalmar lost. Eero finds out that Kirsti has fallen in love with a German, plans to return to Germany with him and wants Signe and Hjalmar to keep Eero. What Signe doesn’t tell Eero is that Kirsti changes her mind almost immediately, realizing she could never give away her son. Eero thinks he’s being forced to leave Signe to return to the mother who abandoned him in the first place and only wants him now because the German left her. The truth is revealed years later when he goes back to Sweden for the funeral and finally reads Signe’s last letter to him and Kirsti.
The film tells the story simply and effectively in a pristine, uncluttered setting—the lovely birch wood around Eero’s home in Finland and the clipped green order of the farm where the Jönssons live (even the geese are surprisingly unmessy and docile). Straightforward, believable performances from the cast, including Topi Majaniemi (young Eero), Marjanna Maijala (Kirsti Lahti), Michael Nyqvist (Hjalmar Jönsson) and especially Maria Lundqvist (Signe Jönsson). She is the film’s true centerpiece.
It’s all pretty to look at while deftly poking you with the many cruelties well-intentioned, imperfect adults inflict on children. Worst of all not being honest with them, under the misguided notion that children have to be protected from reality, that they are incapable of understanding or dealing with truth. Along with lying to them for selfish reasons. I was glad I had a fresh hankie on hand.