Finding Ohana

FINDING OHANA

The great Russian novelist, Leo Tolstoy, famously wrote that ‘All happy families are alike but an unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.’

In FINDING OHANA, we meet one unhappy family.  A single mother of two has just taken her family back to Hawaii to visit her father and the kids resent it.  They miss their friends, and their New York lifestyle.  The mother has problems of her own.  Now, living with her father, deep-seated emotional entanglements come to light.  All five members of this family are unhappy in their own way!

But, Pili, the young daughter, has a passion for geocaching and when she finds an old pirate map in her grandfather’s shed, she drags her brother and some local kids on a quest to find the treasure and save her grandfather’s home.  Meanwhile, their mother pursues her own quest of reconciliation with her father.

The movie invites us to consider that families can be places of transformation.  We are held together by fragile webs of love that bind us together through our fears, insecurities, self-discovery, and joy.

REFLECTION:

How does Matthew 13.44 (Claire’s text) speak into this story?

Where in this film are aspects of Jesus’ kingdom revealed?

What does it mean to sell everything for the kingdom?

What values and practices does your family hold to as key to thriving?

FINDING OHANA is available on Netflix.