Mother’s Day is May 9th this year. I thought I’d give it a headstart with one of my favorite films. I Remember Mama is based on the memoir Mama’s Bank Account written by Kathryn Forbes. The setting is pre-WWI San Francisco. The irony of the setting should not be missed. Modern-day San Francisco is the philosophical center of familial redefinition incorporating everything from Heather Has Two Mommies and Daddy’s Roommate to One Dad, Two Dads, Brown Dad, Blue Dad and Who’s in a Family? I Remember Mama is the antithesis of the dysfunctional families portrayed as the normal families in so many of today’s films, books, and television shows.
After watching this moving drama of a struggling, hard-working immigrant family from Norway, you will believe that such families existed and that it’s possible they can exist again. If this film teaches us anything, it’s that high standards, faithfulness, commitment to principle, self-sacrifice, love, tenacity, forgiveness, and everyday parental involvement with our children, in the end, will make good families.
