The Good Mothers

“Remember one thing. Who’s are you, Denise? You are mine.” Denise’s beloved mother disappears without a trace, literally before her eyes. Years ago she had testified against her husband, the notorious ’Ndrangheta boss Carlo Cosco, hoping for a witness protection programme that never came to pass. Denise and two other women born into Italy’s richest mafia families become key allies of a young prosecutor, Anna Colace, who has made it her mission to overthrow the brutal system from within.
Adapted from the eponymous novel by Alex Perry which is based on true events, screenwriter Stephen Butchard weaves together the stories of three extraordinary women, and tells of their brave decision to turn their backs on a vicious circle of oppression and violence, and to take on their own families instead. Directors Julian Jarrold and Elisa Amoroso have found poetic and disquieting images to portray a world full of extreme contradictions and make palpable the nervous tension that constantly accompanies the titular “good mothers”.