MAMMOTH

Sweden/US, 2009, 120 minutes, Colour.
Gael Garcia Bernal, Michelle Williams, Sophie Nyweide, Tom Mc Carthy, Marife Necesito.
Directed by Lukas Moodysson.

A big name for big, even cosmic themes but Mammoth does not have the huge impact it may have hoped for. Presented on a grand and international scale, its plot-lines are quite familiar to film-goers and have been more powerfully striking in other films. The themes are more than worthy and many audiences will find them moving to varying degrees.

The presence of Gael Garcia Bernal as the star may remind some audiences of Babel. In fact, Mammoth is reminiscent of Babel with its varied international stories, playing with time or, rather,differences in time zones instead of Babel's moving backwards and forwards in time.

Lukas Moodysson has built a reputation for strong, even tough smaller dramas (Amal and, especially, Lilya 4 Ever on Russian sex traffic) and experimental films. This has become what is expected of him and critical response to Mammoth has been to express disgust for his making a film that is technically well-crafted and accessible to a wider audience than usual.

The central story is a conventional one, well-acted, especially by Michelle Williams as a busy and harassed surgeon who is in danger of losing the affection of her 7 year old daughter ( to the very sympathetic Filippino nanny who works in the US, forced by her mother, to make money for a better life for her sons, ten and seven, back home. Gael Garcia Bernal is her computer whiz husband who has to travel to Thailand to sign multi-million dollar contracts.

His is the first of two subordinate stories. We have the conventional story of the wealthy man faced with another, fascinating culture and wants to opt out of the rat race, at least for a time, to relax, to think about doing some good for others, and resisting obvious temptations if he can.

The other story is that to the two boys in the Philippines who long for their mother, with the older being taught a lesson about poverty by his grandmother but which backfires alarmingly, introducing the theme of sexual exploitation.

Interestingly, the mobile phone plays a large part in the three stories, enabling instant contact and communication from and to each part of the world.

The film could have been called, Mothers and Children, Love and Loss.

The surgeon loves her daughter and does not want to lose her daughter's love. She is, in fact, operating on a little boy who has been viciously stabbed by his mother. The nanny is dominated by her mother. Her boys desperately miss their mother. Finally, the Thai prostitute is revealed as having a child and sings a lullaby to her over the phone.

The mammoth theme is explained in terms of evolution, survival and extinction and the place of humans in this development, with images of an elephant in Thailand, backed by visits to the New York Planetarium and talk about the cosmos.

Ultimately, this is a film about desire and hope for love and healing. Upbeat rather than the gloom one might have expected from the director's previous sombre work.

1.The impact of the film drama? Social concern? Global concern? Emotion?

2.An international production, the Swedish director and writer? The international cast? The style and scope? The emotional score?

3.New York life: wealth, apartments, offices, the hospital and surgery, the planetarium? The Filipino church and hall? The lifestyle in the First World?

4.The contrast with Bangkok, its vistas, expensive hotels, streets, poverty, offices, the Thai coast and the hotels, the bungalows and the beaches, the clubs and the sleaze? The tourists?

5.The contrast with the Filipino village, the poor homes, the streets and shops, Smoky Mountain and the rubbish, the centre for child prostitution? A Third World?

6.The interlinking of the three stories and the cross-cutting?

7.The title: cosmic, evolution, animals, natural selection and survival, extinction, the visuals of the elephants, the issues about human survival? Mammoth and the three thousand-dollar pen? The processing of the mammoth tusks?

8.The planetarium and the cosmic dimension? Issues of God, the Big Bang theory, the creation of the bang? Church and faith? Science and reason? The commentary in the planetarium? Jackie and her telescope, looking at the stars, her ambitions? Her mother asking her questions? The maid asking her questions?

9.Leo’s story: the whiz-kid, Ellen and Jackie, Bob and the planning of the trip, Leo as a family man? The luxury flight, the comforts, the gift of the mammoth pen, in the hotels, the deals, multi-million dollars? His being edgy? His talent in computer games and computers? His change of heart, the flight, going to the hotel, wanting a taxi, renting the bungalow, feeling free, buying the local shirts and shorts, swimming, meeting the backpackers? Going to the clubs, the drugs, the sleaze? Leo meeting Cookie? Giving her money, not wanting sex with her? Her story? Her puzzle? The return, the sharing of the day together, his resisting temptation, capitulating? His packing and leaving quietly? The effect of the experience, leaving the pen and the watches (one time for Thailand, one for New York)? His wanting to change the world, charity work? Signing the contract, returning home and to happiness? Cookie, her remaining in Thailand, on the phone with her baby, singing the lullaby? Some hope for her future?

10.Bob as a friend, as a symbol of the hedonistic West, greed, contracts, sexual exploitation?

11.Ellen’s story, her work, Anthony being brought in for emergency surgery, his mother stabbing him? Her work, nights, relationship with the staff? Absences from home? The phone calls with Leo? Her love for Jackie, Jackie always with Gloria, Jackie in school, the planetarium? Her wanting to make pizza with her but Jackie wanting to go to the Filipino church and the feast? Jackie going to Mass, in Tagalog, her learning Tagalog words? Ellen and her upset, yet her ordering pizza for herself? Her talks with Gloria about the issues? Gloria going home, Jackie sad? Ellen buying the telescope, up on the roof, bonding?

12.Gloria’s story: her mother and her demands, the two boys and their ringing her in New York, trying to earn money, the grandmother looking after the boys? School, upset? Gloria and Jackie and their bond? In each other’s company? Ellen and her fears about losing Jackie’s affection? Buying the basketball – ironically made in the Philippines? Salvador, his grandmother, her taking him to Smoky Mountain as a lesson about poverty, his trying to make some money, packing the rice and not getting the money from the woman? The other kids and his bike? The grandmother explaining about the children, sleeping with the tourists and making money? His taking his bike, the other kids taking it, bashing him? The tourist helping him? The search, his being abused, found, hospitalised? Gloria, the phone call, her anguish, at the airport, returning home, her mother, wanting to stay?

13.The range of situations, First World, Third World, family, love, hope, exploitation?