Product Description

During World War II, more than 70,000 Finnish children were evacuated to neutral Sweden to avoid the conflict. Mother of Mine, the latest from the award-winning Klaus Haro (Elina), tackles that painful patch of history in a tale of 9-year-old Eero, a child who increasingly feels abandoned by his biological Finnish mother and yet not attached to his Swedish surrogate mom. When he is returned to Finland, his confusion intensifies.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #69530 in DVD
• Released on: 2007-08-07
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: Swedish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 111 minutes

Review
The contrast between Finland's frigid birch forests and the open expanse of the Swedish coast, captured in Jarkko T. Laine's striking camerawork, is a key element of the film's quiet power, but composer Tuomas Kantelinen tugs too hard at heartstrings. --Sheri Linden, The Hollywood Reporter

Review
Submitted by Country - BEST FOREIGN FILM, Academy Awards --Film Movement

About the Director
Klaus Härö: Director Klaus Härö made his claim to fame with his debut film Elina in 2002. The film won over 30 Finnish and international film awards, and was Finland's official entry to the 2003 Academy Awards. MOTHER OF MINE is Härö's second feature film. His latest film, Letters to Father Jacob, is Finland's official entry to the 2009 Academy Awards.

Customer Reviews

Moving, Beautiful film!
After the outbreak of war between Finland and Russia, during World War II, the nine-year old boy, Eero, is sent from Finland to live with a family in neutral Sweden. (The film tells us that over 70,000 Finnish children were sent to Sweden for refuge.) Eero's indomitable spirit shines through as he adjusts to his new surroundings, dealing with the language difference and new relationships with his foster parents and the other schoolchildren. What will happen when he is supposed to return to Finland? This film is visually pleasing, with gorgeous vistas of the Swedish coastland, and very moving in its simple human story. I loved it and very highly recommend it!

Amazing Film!!!

This film has always haunted me. I saw it two years ago on a long flight and was completely struck by it's quality...the photography is completely breathtaking, the writing and storyline is top-notch, and the acting and directing is superb. Being adopted I think this film has an added bittersweetness for me yet it's accessable to anyone because of its complete loyalty to the characters. This film is a true delight, and heartbreak, from beginning to end. It plays like a dream within a dream.
The woman who plays the adopted mother steals the show as you see her emotional range from one end of the spectrum to the complete other end. I felt every single thing she was going through. This is film making at its most beautiful. Bravo!!!!!

Two mothers, one war child
When Russia bombed Finland in World War II, more than 70,000 Finnish children were sent to neutral Sweden by their parents to escape the horrors of war. This film personalizes that history by focusing on one family's story. The film begins when Eero Lahti makes an emotional return to Sweden as an adult for the funeral of the mother who welcomed him into their home, and with him confessing to his aged mother about his lifelong feelings of abandonment by her. The movie then reverts to 1943 when Eero was only nine years old. The Swedish host family, Hjalmar and Signe, had its own motives, both good and bad, for hosting a "war child" from Finland, and then its own ways of dealing with Eero once he was with them. Eero's biological mother, Kirsti, had her own deeply mixed emotions of guilt, regret, and love, along with horrible choices to make during the war. In between these two mothers is little Eero who as an adult still deals with the psychological complexities of two mothers who loved him in their deeply human but broken ways. In Finnish and Swedish with English sub-titles.