Mum
MUM - A SHORT FILM WITH A HEART
Directed by Akash Mihani | Review by Rimute Terra Budreviciute
In this day and age, the TV and Film Industry is filled with thought provoking, deep material that most of us can relate in some form or another. However, in the sea of deepness it is hard to swim ashore: unless that shore is a movie that has a heart. Very few movies try to connect with us emotionally, reaching our hearts. Many attempts to - the threads of happiness, love, sadness, sacrifice are there, but they are overglossed by big budget explosions, humor and secondary stories. Mum is one of the few short film with a heart and a message, that somehow transcends to us, adults, through a small girl’s eyes. Cinematographically, Mum is a very satisfying short. Every shot seems to have a meaning, every camera movement is there to stay with an audience. The way this film is shot makes ordinary Indian life seem special. It makes those small interactions between the girl and the class, the girl and her dad, the girl and the goats have a meaning, carry some weight on to the audience. But this is not the only thing that this short film has to offer. If you are a music fan, and once in a while like to shuffle through movie playlist - this score is for you. Not only it compliments the story, but it’s also a very emotional score, filled with subtext that that when put together with the young girl’s performance delivers a feeling to us. And that feeling is there to stay.
It is also a story that you wouldn’t expect to go where it goes. From the beginning, you kind of have a feeling that it’s about a girl not having her mother - but you have no idea that it’s about an abandoned child and violation of that sacred connection between a mom and a child. It’s very touching to find out, through the words of the storyteller, that she knows what’s like to not have a mother and she chose to take the child she found by the trees because she too, knows what’s like to be abandoned. To see a child being able to come to terms with that, accept it, move on and help others means a great deal to us, the adult audience. Now, while in real life children may deal with that kind of situation in many different ways, in this film the young girl represents us. Twenty first century has taught us a lot about humanity: we are facing many issues, but the current generations are fighting hard to overcome them and make a better world for our children. However, in all these fights we seem to forget the core of our values: family. Mum reminds us of that core. It shows us that in order to move forward, we need to have all pieces together, not just one. We see, through the girl’s understanding of the goat family, how the world should work and we can learn from it too.
Overall, Mum is a very enchanting short film with a great story, performances and a message, that will leave you well aware of your own self. Maybe, after watching this short film many will understand, that if we want to survive in this world, we should not aim to change it all together: we should start with our own self, our family and our values and remember, that the truth will always win.
Rimute Terra Budreviciute is a filmmaker, actress and singer from Lithuania. She has been a part of numerous stage and TV musicals in her home country. She is a graduate of Alytus Music School and has been a member of pop group "O Lia Lia" for 3 years before coming out to United States to study acting at American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Since then she has been working on multiple short films and plays.
