Movies on Motherhood

Today theSun published a story of mine that touches on mother's day. Here is the full story.  

Headline: Mommie Dearest 
Suggested Standfirst : Here are 10 movies showcasing the all-consuming love a mother feels for a child, which can either nourish – or destroy

By Bissme S

Full story 

This coming Sunday, we will honour all mothers in conjunction with Mother’s Day. Here are 10 movies from different parts of the world and in different languages that depict motherhood at both its best and worst.

1)August: Osage County (English)
Directed by John Wells

Oscar winner Meryl Streep is brilliant in this movie, playing a drug-addicted cancer  patient named Violet Weston who is horribly mean to her husband and her three daughters. Watching this movie, you will be grateful and thankful for your mum who is nothing like Violet Weston.
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2)Confessions (Japanese)
Directed by Tetsuya Nakashima 

A teacher discovers that two of her students are responsible for the death of her young daughter. Out for revenge, the teacher makes their lives a living hell, making the students wish they were dead instead. This thriller will have you glued to your seat till the end of the movie.
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3)Mother (Korean)
Directed by Bong Joon-ho

A mentally-challenged man gets arrested for the murder of a teenage girl. His mother goes all out to prove his innocence, despite almost everyone else believing that her son committed the murder. Eventually, she does discover the shocking truth, which leads to unexpected results. This shows that a mother will go to any length to protect her son.
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4)All about My Mother (Spanish)
Directed by Pedro Almodóvar

Manuela, a single mother, loses her teenage son Esteben in a car accident. Esteben had always wanted to meet with his estranged father, about whom his mother refused to share any information. After Esteban’s death, she goes in search of her ex (a transvestite) to tell him about the son he never knew he had. The movie will make you laugh and cry at the same time.
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5)Mother India (Hindi)
Directed by Mehboob Khan

A widow raises her two sons, Birju and Ramu, through hardship and poverty. The injustices of life have turned her son Birju into a bandit. The movie has a tragic ending, when the frustrated mother kills her bandit son and he dies in her arms.
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6)Pasumpon (Tamil)
Directed by P. Bharathiraja

A widow gets remarried but her son doesn’t like to share his mother’s love with his stepbrothers. So he runs away from home and stays with his grandfather. When he is an adult and begins to understand his mother better, it’s too late. His mother is dying in bed and no matter how many tears he sheds, he cannot bring his mother back to life.
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7)Si Tanggang (Bahasa Malaysia)
Directed Jamil Sulong

A young man leaves his small village to seek fame and fortune, and promises his mother that he will return home and they will live happily ever after. However, when  he does sail home, he has been changed by wealth and rejects his mother. Heartbroken, she curses him, and the heavens soon turn her son and his ship into stone.
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8) Pasir Berbisik (Bahasa Indonesia)
Directed by Nan Achnas

Daya lives with her overprotective mother Berlian. Out of the blue, her estranged father Agus returns home. Immediately, Daya becomes close to Agus as he is less strict compared to Berlian. But Agus reveals his true colours when he sells Berlian into prostitution. When Berlian learns about this, she poisons her husband to death. Christine Hakim and Slamet Rahardjo play the husband and wife brilliantly.
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9) The Unwritten Law (Mandarin & Cantonese)
Directed by Ng See-yuen

An old prostitute, Lau Wai Lan, kills her perverted client in self-defence and faces the death sentence in court. Luckily for her, a hotshot lawyer, Raymond Lau, agrees to defend her. Eventually, she discovers that Raymond is her long lost son that she once gave up for adoption, but does not have the heart to tell him the truth.
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10)We Need to Talk about Kevin (English)
Directed Lynne Ramsay

This British-American film revolves around a teenager, Kevin Khatchadourian, who is arrested after shooting his classmates. His mother Eva remembers his early years, and her difficulty bonding with Kevin. As a baby, he cries incessantly, and as a child, he rebuffs Eva’s attempts at affection. This disturbing movie simply tells you that not all children are meant to love
their mother.