Mary & Martha’s unlikely friendship

MANILA, Philippines - Hilary Swank and Brenda Blethyn star in the moving and uplifting HBO Films drama which focuses on an epic journey of two very different mothers who form an unlikely bond following the losses of their only children from malaria contracted in Africa. Aimed to raise awareness of the issue of malaria, a preventable and treatable disease, in Africa, Mary and Martha premieres tonight at 8:30 exclusively on HBO and HBO HD.

With little in common, these two women — one American and the other British — meet in Africa and bond over their personal loss while struggling with their grief and strains on their marriages. Forging a deep friendship, they realize that as mothers they have a responsibility to all the world’s children and dedicate themselves to the cause of malaria prevention. They begin to rebuild their lives and, in the process, show how ordinary people can make a difference in influencing social policy and affecting positive change.

Mary (Hilary), an upscale American interior designer, took her young son, George, to Africa, promising adventure and fun when he contracted the disease, while Martha (Brenda) is a middle-class Englishwoman whose son, Ben, died while teaching at an orphanage in Mozambique. When Mary returned to America, she tries to come to terms with her loss with an impassioned campaign to raise money for life-saving mosquito nets, while Martha spends time at the orphanage where Ben had worked, in an effort to keep the best part of him alive.

Increasingly dismayed by a privileged society that appears unable to tackle a Third World problem, Mary steps up her campaign, lobbying her local US senator for malaria aid, while her husband desperately tries to persuade her to stop, wanting simply to grieve with his wife. Meanwhile, unable to face returning to England and an unsatisfactory marriage, Martha decides to join Mary in Washington D.C. and together, against the odds, they make a final united effort to make the politicians listen.

Filmed on location in South Africa and North Carolina, Phillip Noyce (Dead Calm, Patriot Games) directs the script from Richard Curtis (Notting Hill, HBO’s The Girl in the Cafe). Mary and Martha also stars James Woods (HBO’s Too Big To Fail) as Mary’s Father; Frank Grillo (End of Watch) as Mary’s husband; Sam Claflin (Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides) as Ben, Martha’s son, and Lux Haney-Jardine (Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter) as George, Mary’s son.

Other HBO showtimes include tomorrow, April 26 at 12:50 p.m. May 12, 3 p.m.