‘Everlasting Moments’ is a film based in Sweden, in the early 1900s. It chronicles the life of an immigrant, Maria Lawson, from Finland. She wins herself a camera in a lottery with which she uses to document her life. Her husband is an alcoholic who is abusive to their children, therefore Maria uses her camera to support her children, also tolerating this behavior. She uses photographs to empower and motivate herself through several decades of bringing up her children and seeing the world through a lens.

Her growing interest in photography is seen as ‘stupid’ and is criticised, to begin with, and is frowned upon and not seen as a suitable job for a lady to be spending her time doing. Her husband even goes through extreme lengths of taking the camera away from her, however, she finds her way back to photographing and finds a new meaning to life, which before seemed impossible.

I enjoyed this film as it gave a sense of empowerment through photography. It shows that through photography we are able to see things in a different light and become more appreciative of what we have.