Once My Mother

When her mother, Helen, started losing her memory, director Sophia Turkiewicz realized that she needed to get her dramatic life story down on film. In Once My Mother, she talks to Helen—living in a rest home in Adelaide, Australia—and travels to the places she used to live (retracing her mother's steps, Sophia relives moments from her own past). Born in Poland, Helen ended up in a Polish refugee camp in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) during World War II. She gave birth to Sophia during that six-year period, and when she later came to Australia, brought Sophia to an orphanage, returning for her after two years. Sophia still feels resentment over being abandoned, and hopes that a better understanding of her mother's history will help her to make peace. In Poland, Sophia visits the dirt-floored home in which Helen spent an unhappy childhood. When the situation became unbearable, Helen ran away to live on the streets, and never learned to read and write. After Russia invaded Poland, Stalin's forces exiled her to Siberia (Helen may have trouble recognizing her daughter, but she remembers the prison camp well). From there, she traveled to Uzbekistan, Persia (now Iran), and then Rhodesia. A lovely tribute to a resilient woman, this is recommended. Aud: C, P. (K. Fennessy)