Bird Box
Director: Susanne Bier
Cast: Sandra Bullock, Trevante Rhodes, John Malkovich, Vivien Lyra Blair, Julian Edwards
Searching for hope and a new beginning, a woman and her two young children embark on a dangerous journey down a river to find the one place that may give them sanctuary from a deadly entity that no one can see. To reach this safe haven, they must shield their eyes from the evil that follows them before the entity destroys their fragile bond forever.
The bond between mother and child is a powerful theme in this film and nowhere is it illustrated more strongly than in the character of Mallory and her connection with the two children: Boy and Girl.
In the beginning, Mallory (Sandra Bullock) was very isolated and unwilling to open her heart to the possibility of love or connection. Although she was pregnant, she refused to acknowledge her child or even give him a name. When the danger comes, Mallory finds herself unwillingly having to care for and protect two children, who she calls Boy and Girl. She started to open up a little bit to the idea of love when she meets Tom, but when he died and she found herself alone with the children again, she was faced with a heartbreaking choice: does she remain in hiding with the children and risk being killed by the entity or does she make this treacherous journey down the river, alone with the children and completely blind, and allow herself to hope for the possibility of finding this safe haven.
I think Mallory's greatest moment of love and connection with the children comes when they are on the river, just before they get to the rapids. Initially, she tells Boy and Girl that they are about to reach the rapids, that the journey down the rapids is going to be very rough and dangerous…and that ONE OF THEM WILL HAVE TO LOOK.
Initially, the boy volunteers to look, but Mallory says no…that she will be the one to decide which one of them will look when the time comes. The unspoken significance of her words is not which of the children will have to look, but that she must choose which of the children will have to die. To be perfectly honest, I was expecting her to sacrifice the girl. The boy is her son...and although she has not named this child, there is clearly a bond between Mallory and her unnamed child. But in the end, even when Girl volunteered to look, Mallory changed her mind. You can clearly see the pain in Mallory’s eyes as she struggles to make this heartbreaking choice: does she protect her own child or does she honor her promise to protect the girl? In the end, I respected her choice.
The connection grows stronger when Mallory and the children are being pursued by the monster in the forest and she loses the children. It is in this moment, when she is desperately calling out to Girl and apologizing; telling her about the beautiful things in Tom's story and how much she loves her, that they are able to be reunited. It is in the end, when Mallory gives the children their names, and ultimately acknowledges that she is their mother, that her journey towards love comes full circle. She has finally broken free from the shackles of pain and fear and loneliness and allowed herself to love.
Bird Box is a heartbreakingly beautiful story that illustrates perfectly the power of a mother’s love and the journey she must embark on to protect her children. The casting for this movie is exceptional, but Sandra Bullock truly shines in her role as Mallory and her journey is one that any woman…particularly a mother, can understand.
© 2013 – 2019 Keriane Kellogg. All rights reserved.
Director: Susanne Bier
Cast: Sandra Bullock, Trevante Rhodes, John Malkovich, Vivien Lyra Blair, Julian Edwards
Searching for hope and a new beginning, a woman and her two young children embark on a dangerous journey down a river to find the one place that may give them sanctuary from a deadly entity that no one can see. To reach this safe haven, they must shield their eyes from the evil that follows them before the entity destroys their fragile bond forever.
The bond between mother and child is a powerful theme in this film and nowhere is it illustrated more strongly than in the character of Mallory and her connection with the two children: Boy and Girl.
In the beginning, Mallory (Sandra Bullock) was very isolated and unwilling to open her heart to the possibility of love or connection. Although she was pregnant, she refused to acknowledge her child or even give him a name. When the danger comes, Mallory finds herself unwillingly having to care for and protect two children, who she calls Boy and Girl. She started to open up a little bit to the idea of love when she meets Tom, but when he died and she found herself alone with the children again, she was faced with a heartbreaking choice: does she remain in hiding with the children and risk being killed by the entity or does she make this treacherous journey down the river, alone with the children and completely blind, and allow herself to hope for the possibility of finding this safe haven.
I think Mallory's greatest moment of love and connection with the children comes when they are on the river, just before they get to the rapids. Initially, she tells Boy and Girl that they are about to reach the rapids, that the journey down the rapids is going to be very rough and dangerous…and that ONE OF THEM WILL HAVE TO LOOK.
Initially, the boy volunteers to look, but Mallory says no…that she will be the one to decide which one of them will look when the time comes. The unspoken significance of her words is not which of the children will have to look, but that she must choose which of the children will have to die. To be perfectly honest, I was expecting her to sacrifice the girl. The boy is her son...and although she has not named this child, there is clearly a bond between Mallory and her unnamed child. But in the end, even when Girl volunteered to look, Mallory changed her mind. You can clearly see the pain in Mallory’s eyes as she struggles to make this heartbreaking choice: does she protect her own child or does she honor her promise to protect the girl? In the end, I respected her choice.
The connection grows stronger when Mallory and the children are being pursued by the monster in the forest and she loses the children. It is in this moment, when she is desperately calling out to Girl and apologizing; telling her about the beautiful things in Tom's story and how much she loves her, that they are able to be reunited. It is in the end, when Mallory gives the children their names, and ultimately acknowledges that she is their mother, that her journey towards love comes full circle. She has finally broken free from the shackles of pain and fear and loneliness and allowed herself to love.
Bird Box is a heartbreakingly beautiful story that illustrates perfectly the power of a mother’s love and the journey she must embark on to protect her children. The casting for this movie is exceptional, but Sandra Bullock truly shines in her role as Mallory and her journey is one that any woman…particularly a mother, can understand.
© 2013 – 2019 Keriane Kellogg. All rights reserved.