'I am Mother’ review: It's human vs android again in Netflix's sci-fi thriller

Lasting for less than two hours, 'I am Mother' leaves you deeply engaged

i-am-mother Clara Rugaard in I Am Mother | via imdb

When Daughter grows up from an embryo stored safely inside a bunker, nurtured by a droid Mother, in that gray-scarlett palette, you cannot help but wonder how bored will that child be. And yet, she does a lot of ballet, working out and yes, examinations. Because “humans ruined everything,” she has to be taught by Mother to be physically, scientifically and morally equipped to create a “family” of “better” people. And for that, she is “the perfect one”, for Mother has “raised her to be” just that.

The droid has the programmed voice of a sweet, loving mother. She picks up after ‘her’ daughter’s mess—her laundry, and taunts her playfully. She offers to cook something else when Daughter isn’t really eating. And she is protective of her safety. But all those “apply” only as long as she keeps her scores good and proves to be the perfect daughter Mother has raised her to be, yes. Mother, through the movie makes a significant point of how frightening a mother’s ‘conditioned love’ could be.

Mother and Daughter had been living in the bunker for almost two decades without any serious episodes. But the table turns and problems arise as soon as Hilary Swank, whose character has not been named throughout, appears. Humans have driven themselves to extinction. The bunker is the only safe place for Daughter until Earth showed signs of being habitable again. But Swank’s arrival calls for questions—which both Mother and the stranger are hesitant to give. Both of them manipulative, with their vague and incomplete answers. Daughter comes to a crossroad where she does not know who to trust. “Don’t you trust me?” Her 'mother' asks while the stranger assures her that “you can trust me” (because Daughter is one of them,) but it seems that Mother knows better.

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So maybe it has been vested in the hands of AI to save the planet and nurture it back to life. This time, though, chances cannot be taken. Earth will only be repopulated by the “family” that is “better” and “special”. Mother’s “primitive directive is to care for humanity”, yes, but surely, “that thing feels nothing for you”.

Swank’s role in the movie serves a purpose to the plot and is no more significant than just that, just as Mother put it, “Curious, isn’t it? That you have survived so long where others have not. As if someone’s had a purpose for you”. And you bet she did!

Lasting for less than two hours, I am Mother is another of Netflix’s low-budget sci-fi outings. But it does leave you deeply engaged.

Mother’s voice, by Rose Byrne can get as menacing as it can get sweet. Clara Rugaard-Larsen who plays Daughter delivers quite some performance. Swank, like always, is an amazing actor.

Was the AI able to fulfill her purpose? Did Daughter fail her? What purpose did the stranger serve? We guess you'll have to watch to find out! No harm in watching this average sci fi, the screenplay by Michael Lloyd Green, that somehow projects how AI systems are driven by the brain and not by the heart. Got the time and coke in the fridge? Then, why not?

Film: I am Mother

Language: English

Director: Grant Sputore

Cast: Clara Rugaard-Larsen, Hilary Swank, Rose Byrne

Rating: 3/5

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