Hi and welcome back to my blog! I hope you are having a fabulous day.
Today’s blog is about watching movies and TV in different languages with closed captioning. I went on Netflix and decided to watch a movie called “Instructions not included”. Continue reading if you are interested about what the movie was about, my reaction and more!
“Instructions not included” is a Mexican film (in Spanish) that will make you laugh and cry. This show is about a dad and his daughter. However, it’s a little more complicated than that. Without spoiling the movie, I can tell you the father was very “Surprised” by his daughter’s existence and what happens next. If you would like to watch the trailer there is a link down below!
A little more about the movie:
Cultural aspects in the movie: This movie didn’t have a lot of cultural aspects but there were some. For instance, there were many Spanish dishes that were served in the movie. Many other references to Spanish TV shows as well. However, there was a cultural aspect of the love between a daughter and a father. In many Hispanic religions, fathers are connected to their daughters more so than other religions. For example, the changing of shoes at Quinceañera the father is involved in as for a father-daughter dance.
Similarities: There are many similarities in this movie to my own culture and my own life in general. For instance, the father is very protective of his daughter and very attached to her. My father and I have a very similar relationship. Another thing I noticed was that the father (Valentin) always gets his daughter’s toys and things she loves to make sure she is always content and never sad. I feel as though culture now in days deals with giving in exchange for happniess. For example, in modern-day society, we see many children with tablets and phones that their parents give them to keep them happy. However, we also see that both parents are not fully present in their daughter’s life. This also relates to modern-day because there is around a 50% rate of divorce in America. There are many more similarities and I could keep going on and on, but I don’t want to bore you. To see more similarities and connect it to your own life watch the movie! 🙂
Connections:
There were many connections to my own life in this movie. For instance, when the father Valentin first started to care for his daughter, he had no idea what to do! He took his baby at the time on a motorcycle to get around. He also had to learn which foods to give her and what she was allergic to. However, being adopted its seems like a very similar process my family had to go through with me. They didn’t know what I liked and didn’t like. They didn’t know what I might be allergic to and what I just hated. But both my parents and Valentin did everything in their power to make sure their children (me and Maggie) were healthy and happy people!
I also loved how we see that they mostly stayed in their house until they moved to LA to have fun. After they moved to LA, I love seeing how Maggie helped Valentin with an English translation and went to work with him! It really shows the strong bond the parents have with their children!
Extra things to look for:
If you notice through out the movie Valentin struggled with caring for a baby and obtaining all the essentials. However he did everything he could to make her happy. In fact one thing we saw was how he got a job. I think it was very cool to see how he got his job and what he did. The movie showed socioeconomic status and went really in depth with their reasoning for everything that Valentin and Maggie did together like going to the beach!
Overall, without giving away the story, I think this movie is a must-watch. It was my first-ever non-English movies and I do not regret it.
I give “Instructions not included” five stars! ★★★★★
Link to trailer: https://youtu.be/IWBL3JfQls8
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