The best mother

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Movie
German title The best mother
Original title Äideistä parhain
Country of production Finland , Sweden
original language Finnish , Swedish
Publishing year 2005
length 96 minutes
Rod
Director Klaus Härö
script Veikko Aaltonen ,
Jimmy Karlsson ,
Kirsi Vikman
production Ilkka Matila
music Tuomas Kantelinen
camera Jarkko T. Laine
cut Darek Hodor
occupation

The best mom (AKA: Äideistä parhain ) is a Finnish - Swedish War - Drama in 2005 by Klaus Härö based on the novel Äideistä parhain of Heikki Hietamies from 1992. Similar to the German Kinderlandverschickung were during the Second World War, 70,000 Finnish children housed in Swedish foster families to protect them from war. The film adaptation tells the story of the little half-orphan Eero, who is torn from his home against his will and after many difficulties in Sweden finds a new one, only to be torn out again against his will afterwards.

The internationally acclaimed and award-winning film drama has so far been broadcast five times by MDR in Germany .

action

After the experiences of the winter war and in view of the impending new war with Russia, Sweden offers its help to neighboring Finland and takes in over 70,000 war children who are placed in Swedish foster families. Eero Lahti is also said to be snatched away from his mother Kirsti after the death of his father. And although he lovingly took care of his depressed mother, he is shipped to Sweden with other children against his will. The girls are promised dolls and the boys bicycles, but this does little to alleviate the pain of separation. After the youngest and most beautiful children have been selected first, Eero Hjalmar and Signe Jönsson, who have a farm, are assigned. But since Signe can't stand the sight of him, treats him rudely, hits him, yells at and forces him to do things Eero doesn't want to do, he is almost happy about her decision to give him back. But instead of his home and a life with his mother, he is now threatened with a Swedish orphanage, which is why Hjalmar and Signe bring themselves to tolerate him. Hjalmar has fewer problems with it anyway, after all, Eero is an extra worker and he has a lot of fun with the boy, but Signe cannot cope with the replacement Eero after losing her own child.

But Eero also has sporadic contact with his mother in Finland. Through the correspondence he learns that she is now working for the Germans at their headquarters in Helsinki . His hope of being able to return to his mother after the end of the war grows with every letter. But that hope is suddenly shattered by news of the Russian invasion of Finland. Eero only wants to stand by his mother's side, which is why he packs his things and tries to sail to Finland on a self-made raft . But a storm surge washes him back to the beach, where he is found by soldiers and brought back to Signe.

In the present, the grown-up Eero meets his old mother who needs care about sixty years later and talks to her about his experiences in Sweden, as he was invited to Signes' funeral. Kirsti herself does not feel guilty about the fate of her son, as circumstances forced her to take this step. But Eero says the worst was the uncertainty because he never received any real sign of life from his mother. She replies that she did not want to burden her little son with her worries and needs from afar, which is why she wrote letters that sounded good. She also wonders why Eero didn't mention anything earlier, and all he replies is that after his return, she just wasn't his mother anymore.

This is also due to the fact that she once informed her son in a letter that she had fallen in love with a German soldier; at the time she hoped to be able to flee from Finland to Germany, which is why she asked Signe to take care of Eero permanently, as she could no longer do it herself. Signe herself recognizes Eero's pain and confesses to him why she had so many problems with him in the beginning. She once lost her daughter Elin Sofi Jönsson (1936–1942) and still blames herself for her death. Signe includes Eero now to the heart, gives him Elin's children, it can be on family photos a place also takes care of otherwise good care of him and writes Kirsti back that they want as take their own child Eero she tries for him the best mother to be . But the new family happiness is soon destroyed out of the blue, because after peace has returned and Kirsti did not go to Germany, it is decided that Eero has to return to Finland. But Signe, Hjalmar and Eero do not want this, Eero is forcibly picked up from his new home, he desperately screams for "Mama Signe". As the car drives away, Signe gets up, runs after it, collapses and sees Eero for the last time. Signe tries to re-establish contact with Eero with a letter, but Eero leaves the letter unread and henceforth lives in an emotionally absolutely distant relationship with his mother Kirsti.

It was only sixty years later, when he came to Signe's funeral, that Eero dared to read this letter. Signes' words speak of the same pain that he suffered after being violently torn from his home; she writes that her yard would be so empty without him and that she condemned Kirsti for her decision. Eero realizes that it was not Signe who wanted to get rid of him, but Kirsti wanted him back. In a second letter he learns that Kirsti left the German soldier despite their mutual love in order to be able to spend their life with Eero. These sixty year old words reconcile Eero with his mother.

criticism

Finnish criticism

Jyrki Laelma said in Finland's third-largest daily newspaper, the evening newspaper Iltalehti , when he gave the film three stars, in particular because of its “strong acting performances” . The experienced director Klaus Härö would present the story here as a “social critic [...] without sermons”.

On the Finnish website film-o-holic , Juha Rosenqvist said that the “serious drama” could present the “high-quality, elegant drama of the film” through its “clear and carefully thought-out visual presentation”.

Swedish criticism

The Swedish daily Svenska Dagbladet praised the “great and almost impossible teamwork” between Majaniemi and Lundqvist. Particularly through Lundqvist's acting, who through her "face and body language shows the contradicting impulses, [...] deeply buried feelings, anger and disappointment", Nyqvist seems like a "weak sparring partner".

Since the Finnish director Häro avoids cheesy elements, Jan-Olov Andersson said in the Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet , Maria Lundqvist could prove with her "unforgettable portrait [of] a woman in great pain" that she is "a dramatic actress highest level "is.

German criticism

The lexicon of international films said: “A tragic story developed in a long flashback and impressive landscape shots against the background of the largest child evacuation in history; touching, very solemn told. "

The television magazine Prisma saw the film as an "excellently played and sensitively staged historical drama".

background

The writer of the literary source Heikki Hietamies was himself one of the children who were sent from Finland to Sweden and was one of the first Finns who did not deal with this national event exclusively in a positive sense.

The young actor Topi Majaniemi was selected from among 2000 children during a casting and is showing his feature film debut here.

The film itself sticks rather loosely to the novel and has been adjusted in favor of the production budget.

Awards

The film was also the Finnish contribution to the 2006 Oscar nomination for best foreign language film.

publication

After The Best Mother celebrated its world premiere on August 25, 2005 during the Helsinki Night of the Arts , its Finnish theatrical release was on September 30, 2005 and its Swedish theatrical release on November 4, 2005. The film was then shown at countless film festivals, including the Nordic Film Days in Lübeck . In Germany the film was neither released in cinemas nor on DVD , but it was broadcast three times on television, on November 17, 2005, May 8, 2011 and March 20, 2014 on MDR .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jyrki Laelma: Äideistä parhain *** on iltalehti.fi vom (Finnish), accessed on October 1, 2011
  2. ↑ Juha Rosenqvist: Suomalaisista parhain on film-o-holic.com of September 30, 2005 (Finnish), accessed October 1, 2011
  3. ↑ Den bästa av mödrar on svd.se of November 3, 2005 (Swedish), accessed October 1, 2011
  4. ↑ Jan-Olov Andersson: Den bästa av mödrar on aftonbladet.se of November 4, 2005 (Swedish), accessed October 1, 2011
  5. ↑ The best mother. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed September 3, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  6. ↑ The best mother. In: prisma.de. prisma-Verlag , accessed on September 3, 2017 .
  7. ↑ Äideistä parhain evening  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on finnougristik.uni-muenchen.de from 2007, accessed on October 1, 2011@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.finnougristik.uni-muenchen.de  
  8. ↑ Toimitus: Äideistä parhain on voimakas kertomus yhden sotalapsen kohtalosta on loviisansanomat.net from September 23, 2005 (Finnish), accessed on October 1, 2011
  9. ↑ Riitta Kylänpää: Klaus Härö on suomenkuvalehti.fi of March 9, 2007 from issue 39/2005 (Finnish), accessed on October 1, 2011
  10. ^ The best mother on ofdb.de , accessed October 1, 2011