Best – His Mother’s Son (BBC Two) was a gloomy drama about Ann Best, mother of George, who was strictly teetotal until her mid-40s, when she had her first sip of sherry to celebrate her son’s footballing success. Ten years later, she was dead from alcoholism-related heart disease. The recreation of late-Sixties Belfast was accurate and, thank goodness, intelligently subdued: no comedy Ulster accents and no point-scoring subplot about the Troubles.
Edvard Oja is the object as well as subject of his own film. This is an honest story about chronical alcoholism, about the author's journey through treatment, religion, death and friendship. Edvard has been always supported by his mother who has provided unconditional love for her son in every situation. Mother is the only one in the documentary who won't ennoble the environment suffering from alcoholism. Yet, her son has no strength to struggle out of his tough situation. Is it possible after all that he will be cured?
Charles Ryder, an agnostic man, becomes involved with members of the Flytes, a Catholic family of aristocrats, over the course of several years between the two world wars.
