In Japan, we had a whole film genre called "haha-mono" devoted to stories about long-suffering mothers. Mikio Naruse made a shitload of them. In the five that survive, there's a recurrent trope driving the plot--kids and young women being hit by cars!

Japan: The appeal of silents here was very strong, especially among the first-ranked directors. Kenji Mizoguchi made his first talkie, "Hometown," in 1930--but then he turned around and made SEVEN more silents in a row, including the classic "The Water Magician" (1933).