User reviews

The struggle of life and the struggle for life last until the last breath.

Boo hoo hoo right from the start until the very last scene,this is a tearjerker that gives your tears no respite. Even bald, Penelope Cruz is stunningly beautiful and only gets more beautiful not to mention more saintlike as she nears death. I just want to know one thing -- where can I find a singing doctor? They barely even talk to me. And what about one that comes to visit me at the sea shore and performs a medical exam in the water! Did he swipe the medicare card for all of this? Still, the movie was watchable even if you had to scold yourself for falling for this relentless bathos. Now that it is over, gotta question myself.

This movie may make you lachrymose but it is not a melodrama.. the protagonist is battling with a terminal cancer... she still finds love and tries to live her life to the fullest.. Penelope Cruz justifies the role of a young divorced mother of a 10 year old completely ..she dominates.. .blue rooms with white furniture creates a subtlety and tones down the emotions...

This film really touched me. Forgive me for attempting persuasion via a personal, anecdotal connection. So often, however, I believe that those types of connections explain precisely how art is able to establish leverage and truly move us as viewers or consumers.

This film offers a beautiful interpretation of cancer through the eye of a strong, modern woman–interspersed with a kind of very real, magical realism. It was exquisite.

Magda (Cruz) reminds me of my very own mother.

For as long as I can remember, my mother has told me that one day when she was 28 years old, she saw a vision of a little girl with long brown hair walking away from her in her kitchen. Days later, she found out she was pregnant with me. My mother has a beautiful spirituality that is unique and special. She understood the vision of the girl–a figment her mind, her hope–as a source comfort that she carried with her. Throughout my childhood, she called me, "my little comfort."

When I was 10 and my mother 38, she was diagnosed with late-stage breast cancer. She and my father decided to tell me and my older sisters right away. I remember where we stood in the kitchen when they told us. It's frozen like a photograph in my mind. I remember the blood on the floral bandages from her surgeries. I remember the morning she began losing her hair, the smell of the chemotherapy on her arms and cheeks, and watching the needles enter her arms after our 3 1/2 hour drive each Saturday. I remember the way her returning, peppered hair felt on my hands. I remember when that little hair that returned fell out again. I remember her many hats, her first and only tattoos–dotted radiation targets, I remember the night she rocked me and told me that she was not contagious.

What I don't remember, however, and perhaps never considered until this film is how she must have felt a loss of her femininity, perhaps her sexuality, her womanhood. How much harder it was to be not only a mother to three daughters–but also a wife and a woman.

This film has been reviewed negatively saying that it is melodramatic, unrealistic, and lacks depth. My opinion is so much different. I think it is so interesting that people reacted that way, because to me, I feel that those critiques display an inability to identify real, female depth. The depth of this film can be found in the seemingly unrealistic joy, hope, and selflessness with which Magda repeatedly greets fear in her life. In how she relentlessly chooses to give love, understanding, and forgiveness. The realness of this film can be found in the true story of a woman like my mother.   Just as this film helped me realize that my own mother must have struggled in an additional dimension I had never considered, I challenge viewers to watch this film and appreciate the magical strength it would actually take to face a challenge in the way that Magda does. Challenge the judgmental gaze that we, as viewers, so often feel entitled to employ–I think this is a similar judgmental gaze through which we, as a society, feel allows us to scrutinize women. If we view this film honestly, and give its magic a real interpretation instead of something created to "make us cry" or "be a tearjerker", this is when we will see its power. Magda envisions her happiness, she visualizes the goodness even when it is not physically there, and she sources joy from those around her. That is magical and it is real.

Thank you for making this film. I cannot wait to tell my mom about it.

It bears mentioning that there are many critics and viewers alike who have criticized the film for being melodramatic and maudlin. I would counter that in fact the film is realistic. If you have had the misfortune of being impacted by cancer let alone an advanced stage cancer or if you have lost a loved one to cancer, then you very well know, the whole thing is a tragedy and it's sad and sentimental. This desire to remove the elements of humanity that we find it taboo to express is stupid and counterproductive. Cancer is sad and it's tragic and there are infinite ways to convey this but this film is no more sentimental or tragic than dying from or losing someone you love from cancer. You want a dry unsentimental look at cancer? Head on over to WebMd. You want an honest portrayal of a woman who has to come to terms with her mortality? Press play.

I'm sure Sigmund Freund would have liked this story: Mothers and wives die one by one to give room for a new 'perfect' family. And what is the newborn Nastasja ? The one needed to give birth for the next round.

This movie is filled with a lot of emotions, and being Spanish they even managed to throw in a little Soccer lol.

The acting was incredible, from Penelope, to her supporting cast, to the child actors. I enjoyed the way the movie took us away at times to an almost dream like state.

The comic relief was on the ball. Based on the topic at hand this was obviously not a comedy, but as in real life from time to time laughter is the best medicine. I gave the movie 8 stars but I think that most people who are movie aficionados will give it a higher ranking. I have a feeling that this one might get an Oscar nod, lets see how that turns out.

I especially liked the few twists and turns it had. It jeeps you paying attention and on your toes right up to the last scene in the movie.

Make sure to see it and make sure to most post your thoughts.

Not quite sure about the negative reviews completely tearing this one up as "unrealistic"... You all can't stand the idea of someone going through a disease without watching them in total misery? Not everyone's experience is the same, this was such a beautiful story to me. Never once did I think, "Wow, this is what all cancer patients must go through". My mother went through cancer as well. And no, I don't wish to see every portrayal of it with the protagonist suffering 24/7. Penelope Cruz is excellent, I loved this.

This movie brought me to tears. It was so well-done. It reinforces the belief that the human spirit and especially that of women is strong beyond measure. The very strong male characters in this film also made the movie so much warmer. If you like dramas I highly recommend this movie. P.S. I am not a professional movie reviewer by trade so I apologize if you were expecting a more technical and complicated one.

This film is not in the category of entertainment. It transports the viewer into experiencing a degree of pain, of emotional suffering, embodied by Penelope Cruz, that is unique in my movie going experience.

The review here "Real Magical Realism" is by a woman who experienced the same suffering when her own mother was afflicted with a disease similar to the one in this movie.

This film, moving and brilliant with no comparisons, transcends the genre of movies, so may not connect with many, but it will be so much more for others. It was filmed on a standard that is not compatible to US disk players, so it's only on Amazon, where it can be rented or purchased.

It is for those who have known emotional suffering and managed to transform the pain into an incentive to enrich other's lives.

This is cinematography in the service not of entertainment, but of the challenges, of profound pain, being subordinated to genuine love of a child, a lover and a friend.

"Ma ma" is a very good film that deals with universal issues regarding life, death, and illness, thus it is relatable, important, and moving though necessarily sad at times. I especially liked the song toward the end. It is an honest heartfelt movie anchored by another terrific performance by Penelope Cruz. I would recommend. My rating: 8/10.