Mama is the movie of my childhood. I went maybe 20 times at the theater to watch it as a child. The characters, the story, the music, the ice skating ballet... they all make a perfect picture. Some say it's a Russian picture. The main characters are played by Russian actors: Ludmila Gurchenko and Mihail Boyarsky. Yuri Entin is one of the writers. Tha "Balsoi" Ballet Group, The Moskow Circus and The Children Ice Ballet were used for the dancing and ice skating scenes. And oh, what a great job they did! But I consider it a Romanian picture. The director, Elisabeta Bostan (a great director for children movies) is Romanian. Half of the cast is Romanian. The story is Romanian - Ion Creanga's 'The Goat With Three Bucks' (Ion Creanga is a great Romanian storyteller, I consider him Romania's Hans Christian Andersen). The costumes that the Goat and the 5 Bucks are wearing are traditional Romanian costumes. And the music is so Romanian... I saw the Romanian version. I was impressed how the Russian actors seemed to speak Romanian (their voices were obviously dubbed, but still, it looked like they were speaking Romanian!). I have a four years old daughter. I was thrilled to find Mama on VSH Tape in a gas station. And now I can't stop my little girl to watch it over and over again. The picture works like a charm on the new generation also.
