What choice does a mother, who is hailed as the noblest profession in the world, make in the face of her son's sins?
"The Crime of Restraint" tells such a story.
Alicia is a middle-class wife, her husband is a retired engineer, they live in a good life, live in a big house, have a live-in nanny, and their usual life is to take yoga classes and get together with friends.
Behind this seemingly happy life, there is also her heartache: his son has been sued by his daughter-in-law several times, and most recently detained.
As a mother, of course, she has to protect her children, which is instinctive. So she got busy, hired a lawyer, raised expenses, and even argued with her husband.
What made her head even bigger was that for no apparent reason, their family was involved in a murder case.
The maid of the family, Glady, is suspected of murdering her newborn son, which is a very serious crime in foreign law, and anyone who includes a newborn baby is humane, even the biological mother, is also punished as murder.
So they shuttled through two courtroom trials, one to hear their son and his daughter-in-law defend; one, to hear the judge interrogate the housekeeper's nanny, and to act as witnesses to tell everything that happened on the day of the crime.
They don't understand how their son, who is well-behaved and sensible, has been sued by his ex-wife several times, and that bitch has not allowed himself to see his grandson, and the judge has helped her?
They didn't understand how the taciturn maid in the family could kill her newborn child with her own hands, and where did that child come from?
Despite the chaos of life, Alicia showed her independence, strength and courage.
She was obligated to take care of Glady's eldest son, Santi, to send him to kindergarten for education, to take care of his daily life, and to treat him as if he were her own.
She scrambled to find a lawyer to defend her son Daniel, doing her best to save him from imprisonment, and even clashed with her husband, who was no longer willing to intervene, and the couple's relationship was also broken.
……
As the trial progressed, we also saw his son's true face:
Drug abuse, alcoholism, domestic violence, rape... A scumbag who is freed from life also has to act innocently in front of his parents, especially his mother, and shirk all responsibilities.
And in the face of all this, what does Alicia do?
She followed her instinct that she couldn't let her children go to jail.
In reality, I believe that the vast majority of mothers will do this.
Life is not a castle in the air, and people are not born sages, especially between mother and son, how big can selfishness there be, I believe many people have a deep understanding.
Alicia chose to ignore her husband's objections, insisted on moving to a cheap apartment, raised money for her son and hired a lawyer to fight...
On the other hand, Glady quickly pleaded guilty and was sentenced to more than 10 years in prison.
If the plot continues to develop like this, it may be more in line with the cognition of most people in reality.
And the plot, there is a reversal.
One day, Alicia takes Little Santie to visit Glady in prison, and the taciturn Glady tells her that the baby who was killed is her grandson, and that the murderer behind these crimes is his son Daniel.
At this point, we also understand why the two cases of this film are interspersed with narration, and it turns out that one person is behind it.
In the Christian view, everyone is carrying original sin, and therefore everyone needs to be restrained.
So at the end of the movie, Alicia chooses to give the evidence bought at a high price to her ex-daughter-in-law, which is equivalent to recognizing her son's sin and determined to restrain him, that is, to make him pay for his crime.
At the end of the film, the two women who were originally opposed and disagreed looked at each other and smiled, shook hands and made peace.
At this point, I suddenly realized that this is a film about women.
All classes, Grady at the bottom, former daughters-in-law in the working class, Alicia, the middle-class wife... These women, their experiences and lives.
Thinking of another movie about women, "All About My Mother", let's talk about this movie where men are completely absent in the next issue!