Filling Impossible Shoes: What 'Your Mother, Your Mother, Your Mother' Teaches Us About Fatherhood
To be a parent is one of the most rewarding, joyful, worthwhile, and remarkably difficult jobs that can be bestowed upon anyone who wishes to hold that title.
It is molding a little you into a curious, playful child who eventually grows into a self-evolving teenager trying to figure life out for themselves... and, finally, into an adult ready to walk out into the world and create a life of their own.
As a mother of two teenagers myself, I could write essays on the physical, emotional, and mental struggles we endure; constantly wondering if we are well-adjusted enough ourselves to properly equip our little humans with the right tools.
On Monday, September 21, I streamed the Amazon MGM YMX3 Town Hall hosted by Joshua DuBois, CEO of Gauge. On the panel were writer-director Bassam Tariq, actor Mahershala Ali, and Pastor Kristian A. Smith, who came together to discuss Bassam's new film, Your Mother, Your Mother, Your Mother.
Bassam's film walks us through a story we rarely see on the big screen: an average, hardworking Black father learning to navigate life after losing his wife right after the birth of their newborn. While helping his older children work through their grief, he is also grinding to maintain some sense of normalcy for a family whose entire world has drastically shifted.
During the town hall, Bassam explained his inspiration for the script: a personal scare after his wife was hospitalized following the birth of their child. It was a wake-up call that made him feel he needed to fill his wife's shoes, when in actuality, all he needed to do was be who he was intended to be: a father. Just that. Nothing more, nothing less.
The story works to humanize Muslim characters and experiences, allowing audiences to see the people and emotions beyond assumptions or stereotypes.
In Islam, the Prophet Muhammad stressed that a mother holds the highest status and is owed the deepest respect.
Now imagine, as a father, knowing you can never fully live up to a mother's pedestal... that your children will never see in you quite what they see in her.
Now imagine the woman holding that highest status in your household is suddenly taken from you, leaving you to fill shoes that are not only immeasurable, but impossible.
Writer and director Bassam Tariq has given us a film that challenges our religious beliefs, the ways we grieve, and how we think our children see us.
The film stars Mahershala Ali, who takes us on a journey through a story that explores fatherhood and how difficult it can be to navigate.
How do you show up as a father?
What sacrifices are you willing to make?
How will you learn to show up as yourself; meaning the best version of yourself, rather than a half-version shaped by what you think others expect?
Is failure ever lurking in the back of your mind when you're just trying to provide for your kids?
During the town hall, Bassam was asked what he wanted audiences to take away from this powerful movie.
"One of the strongest connecting themes is mercy and grace, which connects all of us despite our different backgrounds... and always measure your success by what you can control."
As a native Philadelphian, listening to Mahershala Ali talk about his character and the real-life challenges fathers endure made me instantly replay lyrics in my head from South Philly's own prophet, Freeway:
“If a sneaker start leaning and the heat stop working…”
That raw feeling of doing whatever you have to do when your kids are hungry speaks to that instinctive part of parenthood.
I'll be wilding 'til they pick me out a line-up.
Because that's what parenthood can feel like: constantly trying to protect, provide, guide, and prepare your children while figuring out how to navigate your own life at the exact same time.
And maybe that's what makes this story feel so unique.
Your Mother, Your Mother, Your Mother opens in select theaters in New York and Los Angeles on September 25, 2026, followed by a wider release in October.
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