Ma-Ma

'''"This is Ma-Ma. Somewhere in this block are two judges. I want em' dead."

- Ma-Ma to Peach Tree's inhabitants '''

Ma-Ma (real name: Madeline Madrigal) is a psychopathic woman who is a prostitute turned drug lord with a trademark for excessive violence and the main antagonist of the 2012 sci-fi/action movie Dredd. She is the powerful leader of a criminal gang organization known as the Ma-Ma Clan and the person responsible for the distribution of the new addictive drug called Slo-Mo.

She is portrayed by Lena Headey.

Biography
Starting her life out as a block whore, Madeline Madrigal killed her pimp in a vendetta attack after he scarred her and took over his interests. She then adopted the nickname "Ma-Ma" and founded her own gang, the Ma-Ma Clan. Following this she took over the top floor of the Peachtree Block and then slowly worked her way down, level by level, in the process wiping out the other three gangs The Peyote Kings, Red Dragons and The Judged giving her full control of the block.

Ma-Ma then used Peachtree as the manufacture centre for a new addictive drug called Slo-Mo, which slows the user's perception of time to 1% of the normal rate. After making an example killing of three users she attracted the attention of Judge Dredd and the on assesment rookie Cassandra Anderson. In order to prevent her lackey Kay from talking in interrogation at the Grand Hall of Justice, she shuts down the whole block locking the two judges inside.

Ma-Ma sent her whole gang after Dredd and Anderson though the two survived and worked their way up the block. Ma-Ma was cornered by Judge Dredd and shot in the torso. He then dosed her with Slo-Mo and judged her guilty of murder and the manufacture and distribution of narcotics sentencing her to death. He did so by tossing her off the 200th floor of Peachtree to her demise.

Personality and Character Development
Originally Madeline was a very fearful and wary woman due to the way her Pimp treated her, with him easily being able to cow her into submission, (although she did possess a hidden inner defiance towards her dead-end future as a prostitute, and is unable to accept this as her ultimate fate.) However after killing her pimp and taking his place as Ma-Ma, she develops an extremely ruthless, calculating personality.

By the time of the events that take place in Dredd, she has become extremely desensitized to the violence around her, and has no qualms about murdering/maiming anyone who threatens her interests, or even innocent people if it suits her purposes. She is not squeamish and commits much of this violence herself, having built much of her reputation on this. By doing so she sets a brutal example of what she is capable of to the rest of her gang as well as the rest of PeachTrees' inhabitants. Also She is also shown to be very manipulative when it comes to controlling others with fear, her effortless intimidation of the clan Techie being one the most notable examples of this, with a simple glare being enough to terrify him into doing her bidding. Adding to this she demonstrates a sly intelligence, being able to come up with numerous backup plans when things go wrong, even managing to bribe a group of Judges into working for her in an attempt to kill Dredd.

Although she demonstrates a strong amount of cunning and resourcefulness, she is nevertheless very reckless, not only with the lives of others but also her own. She is shown to be addicted to her own product: Slow mo as well as other drugs, as evidenced by the pills and vials that litter her bed during her confrontation with Judge Dredd. Another notable aspect of her personality that goes hand in hand with her self-destructive nature is her distinct lack of fear when it comes to facing adversaries such as Judge Dredd and Anderson. Adding to the above, her reckless attitude seems to stem more from apathy and a lack of respect for human life/suffering as opposed to hastiness or incompetence, simple put: she just doesn't care. She possesses a calm, cool confidence when encountering threats, even when cornered by Dredd she calmly remarks that she knew she would get busted at some point given her line of work, showing no concern at the prospect of dying or any remorse for her crimes. Instead she just taunts him with a provocative smirk before staring blankly as he sentences her and sends her to her death.

Despite her chilling brutality during the events of the film, she did display a more human side in her prequel story with her showing visible affection for her friend Eric, who attempted to help her achieve a better life before he was tortured and murdered by her possessive pimp, an event that caused Madeline significant emotional trauma. This shows that at some point she was capable of caring for other human beings, despite her later apathy towards human life in the events of the film. The trauma of loosing the only person who cared for her this way, combined with the general bleakness of her situation however caused her to conclude that the only way to succeed in a life like her own is to be brutal and unforgiving. In this sense she is arguably a tragic product of her environment.

A personal insight into her psyche was given by Lena Headey goes as follows:

"I think of her like an old great white shark who is just waiting for someone bigger and stronger to show up and kill her.... She's ready for it. In fact, she can't wait for it to happen. And yet no one can get the job done. She's an addict, so she's dead in that way, but that last knock just hasn't come. This big, fat, scarred shark moving through the sea and everyone flees and she's like, 'Will someone just have the balls to do it? Please?'"

Evil Deeds
Due to her sociopathic nature and large capacity for ruthlessness, Ma-Ma is responsible for many acts of excessive violence as well as several flat-out arocities throughout the film:
 * 1) When it is discovered that 3 rogue dealers are stealing her product, she casually orders her henchmen to skin them alive before throwing them from a high balcony into the Peach Trees atrium for dozens of Men, women and children who are there at the time to witness. Adding to this, before they are thrown over the balcony they are forcefully dosed with slo-mo in order to make the moments before their deaths to last longer, thus increasing their agony.
 * 2) When the story of Ma-Ma's origins are revealed in the film, it is told that she bit her pimp's genitals off as payback for slicing her face open.
 * 3) It is also revealed in this scene that she personally gouched out a man's eyes with her thumbs as her henchmen pinned him down.
 * 4) Finally, Ma-Ma and her gang annihilated all the other gangs in Peach Trees, leaving none of their members alive. This could be considered genocide, albeit a non-racially motivated genocide.
 * 5) In a reckless attempt to kill Judge Dredd and Rookie Judge Anderson, Ma-Ma and her clan mercilessly slaughter dozens of innocent civillians (including children) as well as destroying their homes using three mounted Vulcan Cannon gatling guns to carry this out.
 * 6) Upon being confronted by Dredd in her private quarters Peach Tree's 200th floor, she activates a wrist device synced to her pulse, which if triggered by a loss of hearbeat would send a detonation signal to a cache of explosives large enough to bring down the entire building. She does this in order to try and prevent Dredd from killing her, if the bombs had actually detonated, the resulting collapse caused by the explosion could have jeprodised the lives of peach Tree's entire residental population which totalled 75,000 citizens.  Again, this can be considered attempted genocide.

Other appearances
Ma-Ma's origin story is revealed in the Dredd 2012 prequel comic: Top of the world: Ma-Ma, which goes into detail about how she turned from a fearful prostitute into a brutal druglord, it also explains the origins of the drug slo-mo.

Trivia
• Originally Ma-Ma was supposedly intended to portrayed as an elderly, obese woman, however when Lena Headey joined the cast the character was re-visualised into a scarred, middle aged woman with a man-hating personality. Her appearance is inspired by punk rocker Patti Smith.

• During her confrontation with Dredd, a Judge's helmet can be seen in Ma-Ma's trophy cabinet. This implies that she has successfully killed at least one judge in the past and could explain her confidence when facing Dredd.