Ana Kokkinos’s new film ‘Blessed’, adapted from the stage play, ‘Who’s Afraid Of The Working Class’, is another hard hitting drama from this Greek filmmaker who has built her reputation from making such films starting with the multi award winning ‘Head On’.

The subject of ‘Blessed’ is that huge emotional bond that exists between mothers and their children, as the children grow and start to try and find their place in the world.

The subject is approached in a unique and provocative way. The film is told from both points of view, first from the children’s viewpoint, there are seven in all, and then from the mothers’. Both journeys begin from the same starting point, the beginning of a new day. The cameras follow, first the children and later their mothers, from the time they open their eyes, then through their day, and into their night.

For each of them, child and parent life is a struggle, and they are so caught up in their own web/lives that they give little time to considering the others feelings. Frances O’Connor’s Rhonda is so busy maintaining a dysfunctional relationship, that she has little time for her two children, Orton (Reef Ireland) and Stacey (Eva Lazzaro). Miranda Otto’s Bianca is too busy playing the pokies to turn her mind to raising her brash daughter, Katrina (Sophie Lowe). Katrina and her girlfriend Trisha (Anastasia Baboussourasare) so busy being smart-ass tomboys that they get themselves in trouble with the law.

It is a grim picture that Kokkinos and writers Andrew Bovell, Melissa Reeves, Patricia Cornelius and Christos Tsiolkas draw. It unfortunately is one that is not too far from the reality of some many lives on ‘struggle street’. The performances of the cast are strong, most notably by Frances O’Connor who gives a stunning performance as Rhonda. Cezary Skubiszewski’s score, with its strong percussion base, added to the film’s impact.

As dark as ‘Blessed’ is, it offers some light by the end, as its characters seem to have become a bit wiser after their harsh experiences.