"When Mother Comes
Home for Christmas... is the product of extraordinary persistence, empathy
and intelligence; it opens up the emotional lives of an entire family and reveals,
in heartbreakingly direct fashion, the true meaning of the phrase "global
economy.
The most remarkable thing
about When Mother Comes Home for Christmas…is perhaps the way Nilita Vachani's
camera stays with Josephine for the entire month in Sri Lanka, as if it were
a fifth member of the family. I can think of few recent films that have offered
such an intimate human drama while at the same time connecting the dots between
rich and poor, First World and Third."
Stuart Klawans, The Nation,
May 13, 1996. Read the entire
review.
"An accomplished documentary
with the narrative texture and emotional involvement of a dramatic feature, When
Mother Comes Home for Christmas… transforms a story of everyday hardship
and sacrifice into a moving example of unsung heroism. Told with warmth, restraint
and a genuine feel for the sometimes unfathomable bonds of family, this is ideal
material for docufests, and quality foreign-language webs worldwide.
U.S. trained Indian filmmaker
Nilita Vachani lays out the details of Josephine's life with patience and matter-of-fact
objectivity. While the film could benefit from being slightly shortened, the
material's emotional force grows steadily constructing an engrossing portrait
of an uncomplaining woman shouldering formidable burdens alone."
David Rooney, Variety,
Feb 26-March 3, 1996.
"The director's skill
allows her to select different narrative rhythms, depending on the scenes she
documents, while what absolutely distinguishes her work, besides her feminist
and humanistic point of view, is the total respect for the people she focusses
on."
Eleni Andrikopoulou, Thessaloniki,
1996
"Cinema-verite in all
its magnificence and with deeply touching scenes, which, never for a moment become
melodrama. The subject: a housemaid from Sri Lanka, who lives and works in Athens,
goes back to her country for Christmas. The camera follows her everywhere, in
Athens, in Tinos, in Sri Lanka, and documents her life. A heart-rending film with
a nobility of soul."
Jason Triandafyllidis, Adesmeftos
Tipos, 1996