“Stepmom” Is a Very Powerful Film To Watch

We all know how much it takes to keep a family whole but not everyone understands how much more it takes to heal if it breaks.

Stepmom is a story of a family divided by the parents' divorced. The dad has now moved on with a new, younger partner who struggles to win his children's approval while at the same time dealing with the ex-wife. 

The film looks at so many angles of a family who is going through this transition. It shows that difficult as it is already, what makes the situation more challenging is when the adults don't act like their age and forgetting the children who are overwhelmed and lost in the entire ordeal.

A broken family

The stepmom, Isabel, is a photographer in New York and just like a lot of women her age, she is carefree and passionate. She does not know what it takes to be a mom but she did everything she could. All her efforts always seem to go down the drain because of her boyfriend's ex-wife who constantly make her feel that she will never be enough. You know those kind of mothers who feel like they're far and above everyone else just becasuse they are mothers - I mean I do understand motherhood is the most challenging and rewarding thing, but I don't think it gives anyone the right to invalidate other people just because they are not.

It also does not help Isabel much when the children repels her. However, this I do understand where they're coming from. They're only children and they could only grasp as much as they can and that is that they wanted a perfect family but the situation ruined it for them. They could not understand that it was not necessarily Isabel's fault because their parents' marriage was already falling apart. There was even a time when the younger child hears his birth mother talks about Isabel in a bad light and all he said was,

"Mom, if you want me to hate her, I will"

Even that stunned Jackie but she did not say anything to correct it which could have been a good learning experience. At that time though, her heart was heavy and she couldn't bear to do the right thing.

A change of heart

It was kind of like a domino effect of things not going in Isabel's favour but that changed because of a diagnosis.

This diagnosis (I will not say to whom) changed every single one of their lives and how they perceived each other. This changes the dynamics of their relationship in a way that they slowly begin to understand that beneath all the brokenness and hatred, lies the most important thing which is family.

In conclusion...

Families, as varied as they are, each hold a complexity. Each family has a story and this (although fictional) is a very powerful one and is definitely worth the watch. The character development contained in just a little over two hours is so powerful and so beautifully done. It is emotionally gripping even if you are like me who are not in the same situation as they are. 

Stepmom is now available to stream on Netflix or you can also buy it in Youtube.