Family Dynamics and social media
You know when society sort of lays out some unspoken rules of how a marriage or relationship should be and social media goes an extra mile by shoving it down our throats? This is achieved by constantly popping these rules or standards in our faces and making the majority doubt the genuineness of their marriages or relationships.
The Family Vacation is a Kenyan African movie and was released in August 2024, it was directed by Voline Ogutu and Edwin Kamau. The movie follows the story of an African family, their struggles, relationships, and social media antics.
The movie opens with an interview with the lead actress Yara Maleki (Sarah Hassan) who is a proflic author and also on the path to winning the African Literary Prize and is ready to do everything to maintain the “ideal family” for her fans while her family hits rock bottom.
Whilst the perfect interview goes on we are taken down memory lane as we witness Yara and Johnathan’s (Lenana Kariba) early love story, proposal, and Johnathan serving Yara divorce papers who is already sick and tired of Yara’s social media lies and dramas.
The movie explores the deceitful nature of social media. Keeping a solid front to be admired, appreciated, and loved only to be a fraud behind closed doors.
Yara who was so close to being a best seller for her latest book goes the extra mile to make everything go smoothly and that includes trying to rekindle the love she and Johnathan once shared which died a long time ago due to her nonchalance. When this trick of hers proves abortive Yara goes on a vacation with her daughter Lailah(Angel Atieno) without informing Johnathan which causes him unrest and makes him join them on the vacation against his will.
We are also taken back to Yara's early days as a child when she witnessed her mother do so many inappropriate jobs just to fend for the family, during that period Yara’s only companion was her story books, hence her love for reading, and writing and wanting to become an award winner in the literary world.
My thoughts….
While we get excited about the things we see on social media, we all should try to censor what we watch and the advice we take from social media as they aren’t as true as they seem.
Just because a seemingly “Miss Perfect” sits in front of a camera with a pretty face and dishes out tons of advice, that doesn’t mean you should take everything she says and ruin your wonderful relationship or marriage just because it isn’t going as they depict on the media. We should learn to do what works for us, as there's no standard or rule in life.
I love how the movie depicted the good, the bad, and the ugly on camera.
While we see how this so-called celebrity tries to keep up with these shenanigans we also get to see the aftermath and consequences of her decisions of which I find pretty educational.
Despite this family going through a rocky path, they were still able to make it in the end.
The Family Vacation which was a ploy to keep up with Yara’s social media antics ended up saving her family in the long run.
Everything about this movie is amazing, though short but it drives home the point that family is everything. The cinematography, locations, and plot were all on point.
Even though it was a short movie I still would have loved to see how they reunited, one minute Yara was signing the divorce papers, and the next they were all united again but regardless I had so much fun watching it and so many moral lessons to take from this movie, so it’s an 8/10 for me.
Looking for a short movie to watch? I recommend Family Vacation
