The Greek mother is a rare species. Love knows no boundaries for her. The homemade packages, filled with delicacies and hidden in Greek students’ suitcases are famous around the world. Nowadays, Greeks increasingly go to study abroad so it seems that this phenomenon has been revived along with the traditional motherly over-protection.
The documentary “Food for love” by Mariana Economou that was presented on Wednesday in Cinedoc of the French Institute analyzes the relationship between Greek mothers and their children. The documentary follows three mothers from Greece, while they’re preparing packages for their children. The Greek Mother is a rare species but it’s not extinct. “That is what drove me to make this documentary,” said the director. “When I first saw my friends secretly sending packages to their children I was intrigued, I wanted to dig deeper.”
The documentary was broadcasted last August on the Franco-German channel Arte and was well-received with high ratings. The foreign audience commented that this phenomenon is “both very funny and weird.” The director explains that “foreigners can’t understand how Greek mothers can still treat their children this way, even at their age. In the documentary I tried to psychoanalyze the mothers.”
She continues, “Clearly there are some issues. But I tried not to judge them because emotions have so many levels. It would be easy to just make a movie and say that all this is oppressive, authoritarian and that it destroys children. That is certainly true but there are also other things to consider.”
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