A mother battles with foster care

     

   Some of the year’s toughest movies have dealt with heartbreaking issues involving foster care. A Thousand and One told the story of a woman who rescued a boy from foster care. I won’t say more because those who haven’t seen the movie should be able to experience it with fresh eyes.

     Now comes Earth Mama, a movie about a 24-year-old woman with two children in foster care and another on the way. Expanding her short film, director Savanah Leaf focuses on Gia (rapper Tia Nomore), a woman caught in a frustrating trap. Gia wants to bring her son and daughter home, but the requirements for liberating them from foster care plunge her into conflict.

      Gia can't work enough hours at a photo shop to meet the income qualification for renewed custody because she's constantly attending mandatory classes or meeting with social workers.

      The word “realism” can mean many things. I prefer the word authenticity. Not a second of Earth Mama suggests that Nomore is anything but the character she’s playing. 

      No saint, Gia has struggled to kick drug addiction that caused her to lose her kids in the first place. She’s now drug free and scenes in which she interacts with her kids show her to be a caring mother. She wants to be a good mom for them — and also to prove her own competence.

       Although one social worker seems insensitive, Leaf vilifies no one. Another social worker (Erika Alexander) suggests that Gia consider adoption. The social worker isn't coercive. She wants Gia to understand her options.

       A pregnant friend (Doechii, a rapper and singer) pressures Gia to keep the child, telling her that giving up the baby would be an affront to God — and a betrayal of her culture.

        Although she's wary, Gia meets a couple (Sharon Duncan-Brewster and Bokeem Woodbine) who want to adopt. They’re decent, well-meaning folks who have a teenage daughter (Kami Jones) who seems as if she could be Gia’s friend. 

      No one pushes Gia to do anything, but her situation minimizes her ability to maintain control of her life.  

     Neither Leaf nor any of the actors showboat; the characters  emerge unbothered by any performance puffery.

      A wary Nomore makes no attempt to ingratiate herself with the audience. Understandably cautious, Gia’s one tough cookie. And so, it seems, is Leaf who brings us close to the characters, giving us as little opportunity for escape as she gives Gia.

      I don’t mean to suggest that Earth Mama qualifies as an endurance test. It's just tells a painful story, and, sad to say, proves heartbreakingly convincing.