La Madre Buena (The Good Mother)

Saturday, January 26, 2019

by

Abby Zimet, staff writer

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For a five-minute, heart-lifting hiatus from the madness, watch this alluring little film about a resolute Mexican mother who is clear on our president - "He is the devil" - but who loves her son enough to give him the birthday present he wants. 

In La Madre Buena, first-time director Sarah Clift presents "a simple story about the lengths a mother will go to for her child." A U.K. citizen with a Mexican fiancé, she has traveled widely and lovingly in Mexico and wanted to showcase "strong women, family unity and the beauty and faith of the Mexican people I have had the pleasure to meet" - especially against the backdrop of Trump's racist interpretations of the country "I simply do not agree with."

Clift shot the low-budget, award-winning film in Mexico in April 2016, when Trump was ranting about rapists but nobody seriously thought he'd be, you know, elected. The cast includes well-known Mexican actresses Monical del Carmen and Mary Paz Mata, and others Clift found through auditions and word-of-mouth; while casting, she had actors talk to a Trump piñata to gauge their feelings. She also has the mother, during her arduous search in the film, visit a cave to find a mystic who attempts, evidently unsuccessfully, to cleanse the Trump piñata of evil. 

The film ends with the giddy decimation of Trump, sort of. In fact, Clift says they used four piñatas total: Two "fell to destructive ends" during filming, one survives in her loft, and one "came face to face with a stick" at a London party for crew and cast the night of the election.

La Madre Buena (The Good Mother) Film from Sarah Clift on Vimeo.