Two Movie Reviews, or I Once watched Mama Mia

I don’t go to movie theaters much, particularly not for a grown-up movie. (I was going to write adult movie, but that usually means something entirely different than what I’m actually saying.) If I do go to the theater to see a movie, it’s usually G fare that our whole family [hopefully] enjoys. If Big Daddy and I want to see a movie for grown-ups, we just wait until it’s released on DVD and rent it.

I have recently rented and watched two movies that are music driven. I liked them both, in varying degrees and for varying reasons. A few thoughts occurred to me while watching them. I thought I’d compare and contrast them, and some of the issues they brought to my mind. You’ll have to bear in mind that I cannot help but view everything through the filter of my Christian beliefs.


The movie “Once” was released commercially in 2007, and I have wanted to see it since then. When we lived in Central Florida, our local movie rental store did not carry it. I was pleased to see it on the shelves of our local store here. Once is a serious movie of the independent genre. It follows the paths of two musicians who meet by chance, and strike up a musical partnership and friendship. The music drives the story along, as a natural part of the characters’ lives, and in the movie we see a slice of that life. The songs, which are very good, are showcased in that respect. The actors are also the real musicians, and while not well-known, are extremely talented.

“Mama Mia” is a musical, was released last year, in 2008. I probably don’t have to tell you it was a blockbuster. It’s based on the successful Broadway musical, based on the songs of 70’s super-group ABBA. I have always had a big-old soft spot for ABBA (even when I was a punk-rock grrrl and couldn’t admit it to anyone). ABBA’s hit songs are strung together to go along with the plot. The cast are all famous and award winners. The setting is a gorgeous Greek island. I love the songs, the location and the costumes (the flamboyant stuff and even the regular clothing). On a side note, I do appreciate that the bathing suit the main character wears during a scene was a cute one-piece, modest by most standards. Anyhow, it’s not meant to be a deep movie, it’s meant to be fun and fluffy. In those respects, it works.

The plot follows a young woman who is getting married. Her single Mom never told her who her father was, but she finds her mother’s diary from the summer before she was born. Unbeknownst to her mom, she reads the diary and discovers there are three viable candidates for her dad. Also unbeknownst to her mom, she invites them all to the wedding, hoping to find out the truth about her dad. Hilarity and shenanigans ensue (please know I am typing that with sarcastic fingers) over the discomfort of all parties, who do not know about each other, have not seen each other in 20 years and are slowly figuring out the paternity issues.



Both movies showcase wonderful music. Both movies deal with the foibles of life, lust and love, and our human ineptness or competence in dealing with such things; albeit in a low key kind of way. One movie is rather serious and the other is light-hearted.

Once is primarily about two characters, and a short period in their lives. Soon after their initial meeting, the Guy does declare his desire to spend the night with the Girl, which she refuses. We learn why his advances are rebuffed later, and he does not make any pressing moves after that. She is married, though estranged from her husband. It is not clear why. We learn the Guy’s passionate music is inspired by a woman he loved and left because of her unfaithfulness. It is revealed that she desires his forgiveness and to reconcile. Guy and Girl continue on in a very satisfying musical partnership and friendship. They encourage each other in their personal and professional pursuits. They truly make such beautiful music together; you know that it could very easily spill over to a romantic connection. You can sense their attraction to one another but they never let it cross the line. The Guy and the Girl go on to their respective futures and partners without having anything to complicate and shame them. They acted nobly toward one another. The characters hold to a higher ideal.

Mama Mia is another matter altogether. The characters become enmeshed in the baser human desires, revel in them, all the while lamenting over the fallout (read: heartache) from them. If only they would just stop the tomfoolery and stop and think for a moment. If the young Donna had not so quickly consoled herself in the arms of another man before her love affair with Sam was resolved, perhaps the two of them would have had a shot at a happy marriage. If Donna would have been honest and told her three lovers about her pregnancy, her daughter would have had a dad. That has obviously left a big hole in her daughter’s life. All three men seem happy to step up to the plate. Donna is puzzled at why her daughter even wants to get married. At the end, the young bride and groom call it off, for no other reason than they’re too young. Yet, they are going to sail off in the moonlight together to see the world and follow their dreams. Just not as a married couple. The old lovers, Donna and Sam do get married, so as not to waste a good wedding, and acknowledge that they do still have loving feelings for each other.

What is the message here? The young lovers were happy to make a commitment, and don’t seem impeded by anything other than their early 20-something age. Yet they “come to their senses” and realize that youth, marriage and following one’s dreams cannot occur, more or less, simultaneously. The old lovers have carried a torch for each other all those years. They admit to their individual various struggles in the intervening years: a failed marriage, struggles with loneliness, finances and single-parenthood. They would have saved themselves a lot of grief if they had accepted that true love is a virtuous possibility, worth fighting for (or waiting for), and it was within their grasp all those years ago. What if they just married back then? Am I the only one who thought, why are they nudging their daughter in the same mistaken direction they went in at her age? Don’t commit fully to love, honey, but do enjoy your freedom and liberty while you’re young, wink-wink. This seems so typical of the mores and values that came into the mainstream with the baby-boomer generation.

However, Mama Mia is meant to entertain rather than provoke thoughts, it’s a pleasant ride through a repertoire of pop songs. Yet I can’t help but wonder about the underlying values it asks me to just go along with and take for granted as I go on that ride. Once is a slice of life drama, it’s realistic, and it’s not pretty, like the people and setting of Mama Mia. What is beautiful about Once, is that it quietly and effectively ennobles the viewer through it’s subtle portrayal of a platonic relationship between two lonely and gifted musicians; and how they place the greater good over a instant gratification. The gracious gesture at the end of the movie Once shows more LOVE than all the wedding and bedding that is sung about, flirted with or implied within the entire Mama Mia movie.