Movie Review Essay Sample: Some Mother's Son

Geographical boundaries have influenced the behavior of people a locality. The urge to gain independence and be free from external influences has led to the growth of loyalty and solidarity among the people of a place. The movie Some Mothers Son, is an illustration of this view as the characters fight to gain the political independence of their country Ireland from the control of The Great Britain. Anderson (2010) argues that geography has an important role to play in the development of cultures. The innate feeling of belonging to a place forms helps in developing the cultural beliefs and convictions of a person. In the movie Some Mothers Son, we see the geographical boundaries of a place influencing the behavior of the people in that community. The movie revolves around the formation if the Irish Republican Army and their quest to free Northern Ireland from the British Empire. The regional segregation witnessed in the movie contributes greatly to the development of loyalties and act as an inspiration for the fights that emerge during this period (George, "Some Mother's Son").

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One of the main characters in the novel Gerald Higgins portrays the role of geography in developing loyalty and culture of a place. As a young man, he quits university and secretly joins the IRA in order to fight for the rights of their country. The decision to fight the IRA by segregating them by blowing up their bridges and closing the roads of the region increases their loyalty to IRA. Gerald, who was not as committed the past, is angered and volunteers to borrow his mothers car and blow up an army truck. The members of the IRA use their regional segregation to win the support of the people and increase their power in the fight for independence.

The British Army on the other hand, uses geographical isolation as a way of combating the works of the IRA. The government minister proposes three-way strategy in fighting the IRA. Among his proposals, isolation was a tactic in fighting the IRA. Isolation strengthened the IRA as it got more members and support from people in the region. Geralds mother initially a supporter of the government and liberalization becomes an active supporter of the IRA with the imprisonment of his son. Gerards imprisonment had made her see the cruelty of isolation and evil treatment of the people. She campaigned actively for Bobby Sands and contributed to his election into the parliament. The Isolation of the IRA members in one cellblock made them communicate and instill a sense of brotherhood and loyalty on one another (George, "Some Mother's Son"). They encouraged each other as members of a community and endured their struggles together united by the fact that they come from the same geographical region and face the same difficulties. Their perseverance during the hunger strike is increased by their togetherness and loyalty.

The cultures of the place had developed the people of the community into becoming part of it. They owned their region and their region owned them; they sought the freedom of their region and were willing to sacrifice their own lives for it. As Anderson (2010) said, In these places I not only contribute to their definition and meaning, but concomitantly generate my own sense of who I am and where I belong. the sense of belonging in Ireland had influenced the IRA to give their lives for their country. With their hunger strike they had won over the support of thousands of people to join them in their fight and had formed a revolution that sought the freedom of Ireland.

Works Cited

Anderson, Jon. Understanding Cultural Geography: Places and Traces. London: Routledge, 2010. Print.

Some Mother's Son. Dir. Terry George. Perf. Helen Mirren, Fionnula Flanagan, Aidan Gillen, David O'Hara, John Lynch. Castle Rock Entertainment, 1997. DVD.