Fantastic film! Beautiful cinematography and outstanding acting. I disagree with criticism saying it's preachy. There's a big difference between shining a light on an important issue and preaching to the audience. I actually learned a lot from this movie and was touched by the story.

Great great great great movie....

I would say the generational issue can connect to lots of people. For me, it encourages the ideology of empathy, and also encourage people to be aware of things that look little. I would say it is worth to watch but I would not watch again shortly.

Sad story but engaging--I enjoyed it.

Wonderful movie!! A tear jerker....fantastic synopsis.

Had no idea that malaria still claims so many lives. Shameful that this isn't in the headlines. Good story - slow - but absorbing.

For this film, one needs to look at the overall effect rather than just story and dialogue. You don't even need to watch the first half of the film, for Mary's character and her obsession with her son is so cliché. For the first half of the film, Mary (Hillary Swank) comes off more like an automaton super-mom than a flesh and blood human. The intent here is that we've got a person who's so obsessed with getting it right because of the parental neglect growing up (yes, she even blames her father for her son's death. That bad!) that she goes overboard in rearing her son and interacting with him. She tries too hard, and ends up coming across forced and opaque. So maybe the nature of Mary's character really is just spot on, albeit plastic and stoic. What this film really points up is the fact that many in the western world live their lives like royalty while the other 80-90% suffers and suffers dearly. The point here, especially for Americans, is that we may best want to look at what's happening to the rest of the world before we indulge in our little worlds too freely, too often (the U.S. is 6% of the world's population yet has more than half the world's wealth). Do we with all that we have, have a responsibility to reach out and help others? To reach out across continents even? This appears to be the message of the film. Let's get out of our tiny worlds, our safe worlds, and look at what is going on elsewhere, or we may just pay dearly for our negligence. It is in the final scene where this point is made obvious. As Mary and Martha appear before Congress, the focus for the decision makers is mere numbers not individual lives, Martha, who guaranteed that she would not speak at the hearing, can't keep quite at one point. Her purpose as a mom, a mom of millions comes to fruition as she begins to show seemingly endless photos of children who have died from malaria. My only qualm with the film is that it didn't give more details in the epilogue about the particulars of the horrors of all the children who have died.

This movie was very moving and left a lasting impression. I am still thinking about it days later. Highly recommend!

Great movie, though I don't know if I've ever cried so much in a movie!

So very good! Reality hits home! It could have been my daughter as she had malaria 5 times and could have easily died. The message is clear more needs to be done to eradicate malaria. No one should ever have to die from a mosquito bite.

Outstanding cinematography and strong performances by Hilary Swank, Brenda Blethyn and even Frank Grillo. This film shows all the emotions and complications felt when losing a child. It also shows the deep problem that Africa has when it comes to malaria. Hilary Swank's characters displays what the beginning of a movement and what activists have to go through to be heard. A great film that's only flaw is it's short running time. If it had longer running time the film could have had more character development between the mothers and sons.

Almost but not quite. Excellent acting and getting a very important message across. Somehow didn't quite come together but a valiant effort.

Yet another enjoyable movie from Hilary Swank. The content moved me to tears.

Pretty solid little movie.

Really great film tear jerker lol but great acting and plot.

A pesar de la trama enternecedora de "Mary & Martha", no desarrolla muy bien el motivo de lucha por falta de tiempo y desarrollo de la co-protagonista y su ritmo lento la hace poco efectiva el momento de hablar de un tema tan serio como la malaria y el socorro a los niños africanos.

It's always sad to watch parents loose their children

Not a great 'film' but a great way of communicating messages about malaria.....

Entertaining, but a little too idyllic.

It seems like a true story, and it could be, with facts and all, but in fact it is a work of fiction. Makes three things: makes you not want to go to malaria areas, makes you want to invest in malaria treatments and ... makes you cry. not bad for a piece of fiction, no?