Family is an important unit of all cultures,civilizations and races. It is precisely for this reason that everyone strives to keep it alive at any cost.There might be fights, differences, ego problems or whatever you might call. The essential thing to remember is that when the family members join hands there is always a feeling of togetherness. Now for a bit of history lesson or nostalgia of the past,call it whatever you might.In the 1980s numerous astounding films focusing on the daily lives of common people were made in the socialist nation of Hungary. "Csok Anyu" aka "Love Mother" directed by Rozsa Janos is one such unforgettable motion picture which has a dysfunctional family as its focal point. The center of attention is a small kid left alone to fend for himself. Spying on his neighbours using binoculars remains his favorite past time. As far as the parents are concerned, the less said the better. The famous Hungarian cinéaste Koltai Robert plays the businessman dad, more interested in his pretty young secretary. Talented Hungarian superstar Udvaros Dorottya plays the tourist guide mother of the house. The only complaint that can be made about her is that she wants to earn more money by conducting more tours for German tourists. All this has some very obnoxious bearing on the young teenage daughter.She decides to take matter in her own hands by taking her life. Things are so pretty bad for this family as no one has time to speak to anyone.In the end all the acrimony is driven resulting in a new found happiness for all and sundry. Watching this feel,I am sure that you will feel that these days such films are rarely made and there are hardly any television networks worldwide who would be willing to show such meaningful films. I saw this film in 1990 on the only Indian television network of the time called "Doordarshan". It showed marvellous world cinema classics as part of its "Late Night Screenings".For serious cinema enthusiasts, apart from this film,I would like to strongly recommend a similar forgotten classic of Hungarian cinema called "A Hungarian fairy tale" by Gazdag Gyula.
