EARTH MAMA

EARTH MAMA is a slice-of-life drama about a pregnant young black woman in San Francisco torn between giving up her baby for adoption or taking care of the baby herself. Though well-acted, EARTH MAMA, which doesn’t really mention fathers at all, sometimes sees its title character as a victim of “the system” and contains excessive foul language, brief nudity and light drug references, but it has a pro-adoption perspective and slightly pro-life attitude, so it can be viewed by some media-wise adults, but with extreme caution advised.

The story focuses on Gia, a pregnant young black woman and single mother living in the Bay Area around San Francisco and Oakland, Calif. The State has taken away Gia’s other two young children because she’s had a drug problem. Gia’s in recovery, and she hopes to regain custody of her children soon. Her social worker is sympathetic, but she’s trying to move Gia toward giving up her new baby for adoption.

Meanwhile, Gia’s pregnant friend, a self-identifying Christian woman, wants Gia to have the baby and take care of it on her own, in solidary with the friend who plans on doing just that.

What will Gia decide?

Like too many “slice-of-life” dramas, the plot in EARTH MAMA wanders too much from scene to scene. That said, the plot is cohesive and suspenseful enough to maintain a regular moviegoer’s interest. Most viewers probably won’t be able to tell whether Gia will decide to give up her baby for adoption, even though the movie sets up the question as having only two answers. Happily, the movie doesn’t seem to offer abortion as a possible solution. In fact, it’s fairly clear that Gia loves her other two children and enjoys spending time with them during her limited visitation sessions with them. Despite this positive element, there’s a scene later on in the movie where Gia faces a decision of whether to violate her sobriety by stealing and smoking one of her drug-dealing sister’s samples of crack.

EARTH MAMA has three other moral problems and issues.

First, the movie has excessive foul language, including nearly 20 “f” words. Second, there’s a fantasy scene with brief female nudity where a naked woman walks in forest, hence the title EARTH MAMA. Third, the EARTH MAMA has a mixed pagan worldview with negative and positive content.

For example, the movie has some strong Romantic content that views the black female protagonist as a victim of “the system.” There’s brief dialogue, for instance, where people complain about “the system.” The dialogue is ambiguous, however. It can refer to the foster care system and the government’s “child protective services” system that has taken the protagonist’s other two children away from her. Or, it can refer to society in general, where black women are treated badly. Or, it can refer to both.

Juxtaposed against this Non-Christian, slightly politically correct content is some morally uplifting content. Thus, for example, the movie is clearly a sympathetic portrait of motherhood, in this case unwed black mothers in cities all across the United States. The protagonist clearly loves her two children in the foster care system waiting to be with their mother once again. The movie also has a positive view of adoption, although the issue is told from the unwed mother’s perspective where the mother is anxious about whether giving up her baby for adoption is the right thing to do. Happily, the movie depicts the heterosexual married couple waiting for the mother’s decision in an overtly positive light.

Finally, the movie’s first-time Writer/Director, Savanah Leaf, has decided not to refer to fathers or tell the back story of its pregnant protagonist. Instead, EARTH MAMA focuses like a laser beam on the pregnant protagonist’s current situation. It’s more of a slice-of-life drama, not a social problem movie. As such, it’s designed to elicit conversation and sympathy rather than debate.

That said, MOVIEGUIDE® advises excessive for the mixed worldview, excessive foul language, brief nudity, and drug references in EARTH MAMA.