Too often the headlines and stories and TV news clips we see about political revolutions in far-off lands simply make for interesting reading rather than touching us as deeply as they would if we could see in on a less impersonal level.
But when the later reflections of art from such countries boil down the circumstances to more specific tragedies, we begin to better understand how the people involved must feel.
So it is with the new film "Whooping Cough," set against the Hungarian uprising of 1956, and the quelling of that uprising by Soviet intervention.
There is some brief news footage employed in the film, along with radio broadcasts, but the bulk of the story is simply told through the effect of the problems inherent to such a volatile political situation on one family, a mother, father, grandmother and two small children.
Like "Hope and Glory," "My Life As a Dog" and "The Grand Highway," most of what we see is from the viewpoint of the children, a grade-schooler and his precocious younger sister.
The least successful aspect of "Whooping Cough" is the sexual curiosity of both children, primarily the boy, which has been done and overdone in far too many movies already.
It's at its best when concentrating on various incidents that force children to grow up too fast, putting them in as much peril as their parents. And that's most of the time.
It becomes dangerous for the family members merely to step outside their own home, and no amount of hoarding or trying to amuse themselves at home can make up for the ever-present sense of fear that pervades their lives.
Some of the more harrowing depictions range from a terrifying scene that has the boy and his friends playing on railway tracks when gunfire breaks out, to a more subtle moment when the grandmother brings home a loaf of bread and the family finds it is riddled with bullet holes.
Surprisingly, "Whooping Cough" is never maudlin and is often very funny. There is an underlying sadness in the truth portrayed in some comic scenes, as when the family tries to tell American relatives what's going on without saying too much (fearing the phone may be tapped), each family member coming up with a more ridiculous analogy. But it's very funny nonetheless.
The performances are first-rate all around, with the children particularly affecting.
"Whooping Cough," which is not rated, is probably in PG-13 territory, with some brief nudity, a few profanities and sexual discussion.