I could not avoid it. As soon as I read the word “Mothers” announcing the new Mediaset series on the Amazon Prime Video platform, I had to click and start watching. With that title it was clear that the protagonists were going to be mothers, so I already sensed that it was going to reach my heart.
And I was totally right. It is impossible not to get excited about adolescents and hospitalized children, problem pregnancies and mothers who go out of their way to protect their children, although they do not always know how to achieve it or are right in the way to try it, but they try with all the love in the world.
I’m not going to spoil you for ‘Mothers. Amor y Vida ‘ but I am going to tell you why I think you should watch this Spanish series , especially if you are going to be a mother or have been soon, have teenagers or children with autism. Because the nine stories are focused on them, personalized in front-line actors.
There are no heroes or heroines, only people
In each chapter, lasting more than an hour, children, adolescents, doctors and, especially mothers, bring us closer to their life, which revolves around their hospitalized children.
Although we have not had to go through a long hospital stay, it is easy to feel empathy for the protagonists and understand the struggle they go through. Perhaps because they are actors of the stature of Belén Rueda, Aida Folch, Rosario Pardo, Carmen Ruiz and Carla Díaz. Along with parents like Nacho Fresneda, Antonio Molero or Alain Hernández.
But also because the script by Aitor Gabilondo speaks of the stories of overcoming and survival of a group of very different women united by the illnesses of their children , admitted to the hospital, who strive not to lose their identity while their role as mothers becomes the reason for its existence.
That is where space is left for sexual encounters, infidelities, new beginnings, rapes, adolescent loves, drugs … Because we love our children very much, but motherhood is not a bed of roses nor are we heroines , especially when we have dumped into children with such severe diseases as anorexia nervosa, cancer, autism or recovery after a year in a coma, and we see how no one seems to understand what we suffer, except other mothers in the hospital who become our friends and support.
At that time, there are no differences between social classes, origins or training: there is a mother from the country, another drug addict, another overprotective and journalist, another ‘posh’ executive, and even one who has practiced prostitution. There, with their children, they are all the same.
Together, as in a kind of bubble, they face the fear of diagnoses, the hope of recovery, the threat of death, the difficult relationship between parents and children. But also, the consequences of the passage of time outside the hospital, which progresses without them dragging couple relationships, jobs and families.
Close stories that speak of love, disease and struggle
In addition, in this series there are neither heroes nor heroines. Each one survives as best he can, with his defects, fears and insecurities: children, doctors, fathers and mothers. This point of view manages to establish a beautiful relationship between doctors and patients, by not seeing specialists only as gods, but as people. Not only Olivia, the protagonist pediatrician , but also Paula, her gynecologist friend , who tries to understand the homosexual parents of a surrogate baby fighting for Ana, the Ukrainian mother who is carrying her child.
But if there is a story that has reached me more, it is that of Marian, a character played by Belén Rueda, and her daughter Elsa, played by Carla Díaz, who suffers from anorexia nervosa. I really believe that watching the series will help us understand this complex eating disorder from the point of view of the children who suffer from it and understand that with their attitude they are not trying to hurt their parents, it is the disease that speaks.
Just to give an example: there is an image of Elsa, in her underwear, reflecting in the mirror the image that she sees of her body, completely distorted and that has remained engraved on my retina.
Or how the mothers played by Mónica Cruz and Carmen Ruíz feel, who try by all means to get closer to their adolescent children, although they do not always (or almost never) know how to do it.
There is only one point I would make to the series (but I clarify that it is only my opinion): I would add “fathers” to the title, because in general they are quite beaten, implying that it is only mothers who go out of their way for their children, when I sincerely believe that in real life it is not like that. There is an exception protagonist in the series and, by far, he would be chosen “exemplary father of the year”.
In any case, I would like the producers to repair the lapse because we already know that there will be a second season and that it will feature Paco Tous, Jon Plazaola, Elena Irureta, Jesús Castro and Irene Arcos.
I am looking forward to its premiere to see it as soon as possible, hoping that it excites me as much as this one. And you do you think?
If with my words I have not yet convinced you to see it, here is the trailer to whet your appetite.
In Babies and More | ‘Babies’, the new Netflix documentary that shows what the first year of life is like, from the point of view of the little ones, The 11 things your teenager wants you to know, New releases from Netflix, Amazon Prime, HBO and Movistar + : Movies to watch as a family in May 2020
