Dinesh Kamath's column on film 'Mama' that was published in Newsband

Mama is a 2013 Spanish-Canadian horror film co-written and directed by Andres Muschietti, and starring Jessica Chastain. The film is produced by J. Miles Dale and Barbara Muschietti, with Guillermo del Toro serving as executive producer. It is based on Muschietti's 2008 Spanish-language short film of the same name.

The movie has an interesting plot. Occurring at the onset of the 2008 financial crisis, a distraught man called Jeffrey kills his business partners and estranged wife before taking his children - 3-year old Victoria and 1-year old Lilly - away from home. Driving dangerously fast on a snow-covered road, the car slides off road and crashes into the woods. Surviving the crash, Jeffrey takes the children into an abandoned cabin, where he prepares a fire. Planning to kill his children and commit suicide, Jeffrey tells Victoria to look out the window and holds a gun to her head. Just as he is about to pull the trigger a shadowy figure pulls him away and out of the door, snapping his neck in the process. Victoria cannot see the figure as her glasses were in the possession of her deceased and now missing father. The girls survive by the fireside and are tossed a cherry by the mysterious figure in the night.

Five years later, a rescue party sponsored by Jeffrey's brother Lucas stumbles upon the car and the abandoned house, finding the children alive but animal-like in behavior. They are rescued and put in a welfare clinic by the courts under psychiatric care of Dr. Gerald Dreyfuss. Dreyfuss agrees to support the custody claim of Lucas and his girlfriend Annabel against the girls' maternal great-aunt Jean on condition of having continued access to the children in a house sponsored by the clinic for case studies. Dreyfuss is intrigued by the drawings the girls have made of a mysterious character they call "Mama," whom they talk to and play with. During an intimate moment between Lucas and Annabel one night, Annabel is startled by the appearance of a shadowed figure in their bedroom doorway; while investigating, Lucas is attacked by Mama and falls off the staircase, losing consciousness and sliding into a comatose state. Annabel, a rock musician with no relation to the girls, finds herself left alone to care for them while the visits of Mama continue. Although she makes progress with Victoria, she finds Lilly hostile. Alarmed by nightmares and a warning about "Mama's jealousy" by Victoria, she asks Dr. Dreyfuss to investigate.

Initially believing "Mama" to be a creation of Victoria's mind, her story of Mama being an aggrieved mother separated from her child is corroborated by Dreyfuss' research that brings to light the story of Edith, a mental asylum inmate in the 19th century. He recovers a box of her dead child's remains, and has his first encounter with Mama while interviewing Victoria. During Dr. Dreyfuss' studying of Edith, Annabel has a nightmare about Mama and her past; she had committed suicide by jumping off a cliff after stealing her baby from the nuns who had separated them but on her fall, her child was snagged on a branch and killed on impact while Mama fell into the water. Annabel realizes Mama has been searching for the child she never knew what happened to (since the baby was not in the water with her) and saw Victoria and Lilly as substitutes. Meanwhile, Lucas returns to consciousness after a disturbing vision of his dead brother Jeffrey telling him to go to the cabin in the woods. Annabel and the girls are visited by Jean, who, alarmed by some bruises on the girls, tries to get Annabel investigated for abusing them. Victoria's growing closeness with Annabel makes her less willing to play with Mama, unlike Lilly, who still prefers Mama over Annabel.

Dr. Dreyfuss visits the cabin to research Mama's presence, and upon trying to photograph her, is attacked and killed. Finding him missing, Annabel steals the case files of the girls from his office. She learns that Edith and Mama are the same person, while Lucas leaves the hospital to search for the cabin. Shortly after she makes a breakthrough with Lilly, Annabel and the girls are attacked by a jealous Mama, who subdues Annabel, possesses the body of Aunt Jean, who had broken into the house for evidence of abuse, and escapes with the girls. Upon regaining consciousness, Annabel takes the box bearing the remains of Mama's child and heads for the woods, where she meets Lucas. The couple spot the children on a nearby cliff, where Mama (who killed Jean) is preparing to relive her suicide by taking Victoria and Lilly with her over the cliff. Annabel offers Mama the remains of her child, and the angry spirit undergoes a more peaceful transformation, appearing human again. But when Lilly calls out for her, Mama returns to her terrifying form and attacks, discarding the remains of her child. After a desperate struggle, Annabel has just enough strength to hold on to Victoria who decides to stay with her and Lucas, while Lilly cries that she and her sister should be with Mama. Mama encases herself and Lilly in a cocoon and jumps off the cliff, hitting the same branch she did in the 1800s. Upon impact, she and Lilly turn into a shower of moths. While hugging Annabel and Lucas, Victoria notices a blue and black moth land on her hand, which she believes to be Lilly.

IGN editor Scott Corulla rated the film 7.3 out of 10 and wrote, "This is a fine first film for director Andres Muschietti…" The Huffington Post wrote, "With Del Toro's name up front, expect Mama to be the winter horror film of choice in 2013."

So do watch the film Mama.