Spotlight

Spotlight Date: 21-October-07
Spoiler Rating: Medium

I Remember Mama (1948)

Until watching "I Remember Mama," I would not have thought that a person handing a cup of coffee to another could be a moment for tears. But this sweet, honest, blissfully unschmaltzy movie taught me otherwise. Based on the memoirs of a daughter of U.S. immigrants at the turn of the 20th century, "I Remember Mama" spins yarns about a loving family and the woman who stood at its helm.

The second-oldest child in the family, Katrin (Barbara Bel Geddes), is the observer and writer through whose eyes the story unfolds. The movie opens upon a telling scene in which Papa, older brother Nels, Katrin, and her two younger sisters all crowd around Mama (Irene Dunne) to settle the week's finances. Although they own a spacious home in San Francisco, money is tight. Papa and Mama came from Norway, and their accents and faintly astonished pride in their children's progress attest to their Old World origins. It is instantly apparent that Mama manages the household by virtue of her competence and care and that no one would dream of any other way.

The recollections flow easily from this homey tableau. Here is Mama's meekest sister with the startling news that she wishes to marry at 42 years of age. Here are the two strident sisters whom Mama must take in hand so they don't laugh at the future bride. There is the tomcat named Elizabeth, and Mama sneaking into the hospital in the middle of the night because she promised to greet her little girl when she woke up after surgery. One of my favorite anecdotes finds the family entranced when their boarder reads them A Tale of Two Cities. Everything is wonderful when they share it together.

Their life offers harder lessons, of course, like petty jealousies and the inevitability of death. (Although Elizabeth proves to have, if not nine lives, at least two.) A source of awe for everyone in the clan but Mama is bluff Uncle Chris (Oscar Homolka), the oldest male and only member with enough money and courage for a newfangled automobile. He intimidates by speaking loudly and doing exactly what he wants, but his kindness shows through when he teaches his youngest nephew how to swear in Norwegian as a remedy for pain.

And so it goes. Katrin learns, laughs, and grows older (even old enough for coffee), while Mama does not waver from her nature, uncomplicated and good as gold. Dunne gracefully embodies the beauty of such a woman so she never seems larger than life. She just is, or was, and knowing her is an agreeable sensation.

Copyright © 2007 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.