Sweet Mother

Sweet Mother tells the story of a black family, where the sons are flirting with crime, and no one's good enough for Mother's inflated expectations for her boys.

We open on an estranged Mother visiting her son in jail - for reasons unexplained, although he has broken fingers. We learn that his younger brother is alone, and the horrified Mother visits to find him at a party. The culture shock is given an added energy by handheld camerawork, and the Mother's gift of a dress for her son is rejected utterly, along with wholesome food. Mother wears a face of abject disdain in the city market, nothing quite matches up to her best hopes and dreams.

The film is "Dedicated to all mothers" - those special ladies who often bear our emotional burdens. This is given enormous weight after the young son comes home covered in his friend's blood, enraged and gasping for revenge. She performs the work of the therapist, the friend and source of serenity and calm.

With great performances and assured direction, Sweet Mother is a rather good story, well-told.