Do your homework or don't take the class

Rating: 10/10 (10 January 2018)

Mother! is a movie that was made to enthrall the well educated as it is to give the the others nightmares. It is an IMMENSELY dense, allegorical poem meant to inform the watcher of Aronofski's passion hatred of God. As you may have noticed, Ed Harris and Michelle Pfeiffer play the role of Adam and Eve breaking the one rule of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, their sons were Cain and Abel, and the sink flooding and everyone getting kicked out was the flood of Noah, and so on. The story is sort of a synopsis of the plots of the Bible with God (Javier Bardem) writing the Bible and basking in the glory of his followers. Eventually, the apocalypse happens and everyone is in dire need of God; which is how God likes things. After giving them all the things he has, he starts to give them things he does not have; namely, his child. As in the Jewish religion, Jesus does not come to save humanity until after the the tribulation. J Law plays the role of Mother: that being mother earth/nature, women in general, and mother as in queen of the castle - the modern and eternally present patriarchy. She plays the role of "everyman", the only sympathetic character in the entire film. She is the basis of the poetic style as poetry is often abstract and fantastical like the entirety of the movie, Mother is the only thing that makes any sense. She is a means of portraying the cruelness of God. She gives him anything and loves him while he only loves her affection. She is earth. She is love. She is the source of his power and he repays her with naught. She does everything. She builds the house and cooks while he sits around bereft of meaning. He doesn't find it until Adam comes swaggin' in. She acquiesces to his every whim whether or not it's reasonable and is bled dry, giving up everything for him until he TAKES HER CHILD BY FORCE. He screws her over along with the rest of the world. She is forced to set fire to the whole enchilada, forcing God to start over from scratch. A new world--a new mother. She is nothing but a charred heap in his arms. She says "All I have left to give is my heart so just take it already." Without hesitation, he takes her heart and excitedly begins anew. All he does is take and take and take and would only give if it meant he would receive. All of this to say that God is greedy and doesn't care if not in a selfish way. I myself have a huge passion for film criticism and given the extensive and expensive religious education that I have, this movie is a huge deal to me. It is not blasphemous, or blatantly offensive, it is the brilliancy of poetry and of the free-willed mind in visual, feature film format. A cinema masterpiece of the ages and one of my favorite movies. I would say that there is a certain qualification that is required to fully appreciate the piece as it is a very complicated and, at times, disorienting allegory for in-depth understanding and contemplation of the human condition. An under appreciated gem. Utter brilliance. Mother!