Women leaving Moldova and crossing the border into Romania and then on into Western Europe to work illegally has become a mass phenomenon, leaving children without mothers, and husbands without wives. Bordering Romania and the Ukraine, Moldova is the poorest country in Europe. With 80% unemployment and a high rate of alcoholism, it is not surprising to hear that many Moldavian women are becoming disillusioned and find it hard to maintain perspective, particularly those living in remote and isolated villages.
Directed by Ed Moschitz, Mama Illegal follows three women between 2004 -2009 as they work illegally in Austria and Italy, earning money so they can provide their families back home with a better life. But as the film progresses the strain on the women and equally their loved ones left behind becomes clear. Footage from a local school shows a classroom of crying children, pleading to the camera for their parents to return home. Nearly all of the children present in the class have a mother working abroad, some have both parents working in separate countries. The result is a generation of children left behind, being brought up by their grandparents and remembering their parents only through memories.
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As the years progress the women’s stories progress into struggles with their own conscience and tragedies back home. As their children grow into young adults you can see the resentment they feel towards their mothers. You watch the women’s journeys as they become used to the kind of life that Western Europe offers them. When they do finally return home to visit they view their homes as dirty and poverty stricken. The pressure this puts on their marriages could not be made more heart-rending when Auralia’s husband commits suicide, “why did you leave us” she shouts at his coffin, the sad part is her husband could not face her leaving again and suicide was his last push to force her to stay at home with her children.
Mama Illegal forces you to reflect on what you would have done if you were faced with their situation as hopeless as theirs. It is in the human condition to better yourself and your situation, but at what price?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUyrh-rDl_U
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