palofsophie Read the other reviews if interested in plot. The persons involved in creating this film may have had great motivation. The time & talents of Swank & Bletheyn are wasted. The dialogue is lame :"Is you husband cute? I think so." Who says stuff like that?The relationships seem false. The scenes with medical personnel are laughable. The scenery is interesting. I could not watch the entire film- it was aggravating.

kosmasp If people say and tell you this is inspiring, they are not wrong. Based on real events, this is really gripping and without knowing where this was heading (hadn't read anything about it, before I watched it), I really was surprised after about 30 minutes into the film. After that it was kind of obvious where it would go, but the acting and the telling of the story is really good.Not to mention the central performances. Even if towards the end you get a bit of a "cliche" speech, you'd have to have a heart of stone, not to be touched by it at all. You could also argue about the husband and what he decides to do and how things get "solved", but after all that happened, it seems to be a suiting ending to it all

fabkingcliff Little George (Lux Haney-Jardin) is getting bullied at school and when Mary, his mother(Hilary Swank) finds out, she decides to take him on vacation to the beautiful landscapes of South Africa in a bid to escape suburban life for a while. During their stay in a touristic village not far from the South African capital of Cape Town, Everything is going great until one night when little George is bitten by a mosquito hence infecting him with malaria, the deadliest disease in the world. He subsequently dies on the hospital bed three days later.A few Miles out of the country, Ben (Sam Claflin) has been assigned in Mozambique to teach English at a local primary school. There he meets beautiful Micaela (Nokuthula Ledwaba) with whom he falls in love. Their romance doesn't last because Ben too suffers the same fate as little George, one fatal mosquito bite takes his life.The movie follows the lives of two mothers, Mary and Martha (Brenda Blethyn) the latter whose story is analogous to Mary's- brought together by the tragic loss of their sons to Malaria. Their bond quickly grows strong as they relate to each other's tragedy.Well, this is a nice plot for an inspirational movie but unfortunately it was not that inspirational to me. Why? because although the movie runs 90 minutes, everything happened too quickly I mean events just flashed before our eyes as if in fast forward and to me that just took away the connection i was supposed to have with the characters and the story itself. It's almost as if you were watching the trailer; they summarized everything so dully. Not to mention the fact that we didn't get the chance to understand and connect with the victims (Ben & George) better in order to care enough for them. Ben and Micaela's budding romance isn't supplemented at all either. Aside from the cheesy storyline, there's something else that doesn't work for this movie. That thing is the fact that, neither Mary nor Martha would have cared a minute for the millions of kids dying in Africa from Malaria had it not been for the death of their own. This means, i presume, that for the white community to care for third world countries something tragic must happen to one of their own first. Would Mary have fought so hard for the senator's attention if that mosquito had never bit George? Surely not, but I'm certain she was already aware of malaria's evil deeds on the African Continent. But the film is of humanitarian aspirations so..it doesn't matter really.This movie, however, does stay true & genuine to its cause and Hilary Swank does a great job in her acting; her eyes are wet with lingering tears throughout the movie and her performance is quite believable. Brenda Blethyn (Martha)'s performance is average "Mom behavior" that any mother would have enough inspiration to deliver. The whole idea of "Mary and Martha" is great but it just doesn't have that spark you know, it does get really sad at times but it just lacks that warm atmosphere that you find in movies like Schindler's List, Pursuit of Happiness or Savior.In conclusion, this is the kind of movie that will gain praise from moms all over the world because let's be honest, what is worse than losing your child? More so if you're partly responsible?It hasn't worked for me, alas, but...what the hell, my mother loved it.

ljsd First...NO WESTERNER would EVER leave their respective countries to travel to anywhere in Africa without Malaria medication in the 21st century--especially a child. The scenario that the writer and director presented was false. Plus, one does not get the symptoms of Malaria two days after they have been bit by a mosquito. Second...why do we need to showcase two white people who lives have been turned upside down because of malaria to make people realize that the African people are neglected? Why couldn't the story be a black teacher who may be a "professional" makes very little money that he even can't pay for medical care for his wife who has malaria? This would be more meaningful and more true. When I was in Africa, I met a teacher who could not come to work because his wife was sick with Malaria. Hence...he could not come in to teach because he needed to take care of his sick wife and could not earn his salary because he had to be home. Regardless of how ridiculous I thought the premise of the story is, African people need help. They are so impoverished and have very little to be able to take care of their families. We send aid over to many African countries and the money is sucked up by corrupt politicians and top business leaders, leaving next to nothing for the people. If the African people receive 1 percent of the money we give the government for programs, I would say they would be lucky.