Community Centred - 5 Great Movies that Prove Home is Where the Heart is
There's stories that take place in houses, and then there are stories about HOME. Far more than bricks & mortar, they’re the beating heart of a family, and they build that invisible bond: a community. Here’s 5 films that explore “being home” in myriad ways, and the connection that feeling can bring.
good.film
2 years ago
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What does home mean to you? Is it just the place where you drop your boots after a long day, and crash on the couch for a night in front of the flatscreen? Or is ‘home’ something more - the space where you find your most precious moments; the intangible connection you have with those you hold the closest? Whether it’s a tin shack, a modest flat, a classic Aussie “block” or a sprawling farm spread, we might live in a huge array of domiciles, but we all share the same basic need: a good roof over our heads.
According to the ABC (in a piece entitled “Why Australians Are Obsessed with Owning Property”), a recent Australian National University poll found more than three-quarters of Australians viewed home ownership as part of "the Australian way of life". Colloquially, any wider notion of the ‘Aussie dream’ pretty much always meant the same thing: 2.5 kids and a white picket fence (cliche alert!). Buying a house equals roots being laid down, an ambition fulfilled, a place to call home. She might’ve had some odd mates and pretty vivid dreams, but you’d have to say that crazy kid Dorothy from Kansas was spot on all those years ago…
Of course, if you’ve read any headlines recently, you’ll know that buying a small square of our wide brown land is no easy feat. According to a survey conducted by Resolve Strategic, “almost three-quarters of young Australians believe they will never be able to buy a home.” The causes are myriad: skyrocketing inflation, a fall in real wages and 10-year-highs in interest rates are all major potholes in the road to home ownership. Essentially, younger people have been priced out, because the cost of their essentials is rising faster than their pay packets.
There’s also been a major shift in the pure dynamic of what we consider our homes are for. No longer a place to simply eat and sleep, the COVID pandemic transformed our homes into unexpected workspaces. For many, this led to a new way of life: freed up from the office and commuting thanks to remote work policies, millions fled the urban jungle in favour of areas closer to nature. Seattle-based real estate brokerage Redfin estimates that the number of people saying ‘see ya’ to cities and ‘g’day!’ to suburbs leapt by over 50% in 2020 alone.
So - which movies hero the idea of “being home”?
It’s no surprise that homes play a big role in some of the best loved movies ever made. After all, most great stories are about people connecting, and we humans tend to do a lot of that connecting in these little boxes we build for ourselves all over the planet! In some cases, you could say homes have even taken the lead role: from the renovation disaster of Tom Hanks’ The Money Pit to the magical time-warp of Sandra & Keanu’s romance in The Lake House, to the goofy, injury-laden hi-jinks of Home Alone - which let’s not forget, at its heart, was simply a story about a mother reconnecting with her son. But with flamethrowers.
We’re looking a bit deeper though - peeling back the plasterboard, so to speak - and revisiting our favourite movies that look at the idea of ‘being home’ in a different way. What is the essence of “home” when you’re looking for the perfect one to raise your unborn child? How do you find “home” if you’re hopelessly separated from your family? What’s your place within your home, if you’re different from everyone else who lives there? And how does it affect your family bond if you’re always judged by others for the place you call home?
We’ll dive into it all - so thanks for visiting! Rub your e-shoes on our virtual welcome mat and cross the threshold, for our five favourite films that explore the connection of home in wonderfully unique ways.
The Castle
The Kerrigans are happy living beside the airport - until a government order to make way for more runways threatens their beloved ‘Castle’. But the family puts up a fight…
It’s against the Aussie constitution to discuss movies about “home” and not begin with The Castle. (What - it’s not? Well, it should be). Working Dog’s tiny 1997 feature - shot on 16mm film with a miniscule crew - captured the knockabout and yes, daggy Australian family’s spirit so accurately that it’s been repeatedly voted as Australia’s favourite homegrown film.
As the close-knit Kerrigans battle far out of their depth in the High Court to stay put in their modest family home, two things become crystal clear: they cherish their abode (and the seemingly endless Kingswoods and Toranas that surround it), and they deeply value their bond to each other. Sure, their interactions might be played for laughs - like patriarch Darryl’s daily praise for his daughter’s hairdressing skills, his wife’s meals and his son being “an ideas man”. But their support and affection for each other is genuine, and so is their bulletproof conviction that their home belongs to them, and no-one has the right to take it away.
At its core, The Castle showcases how a family's bond makes even the most ordinary home feel special and worth fighting for. More than 25 years later, the message that a family’s home is their castle feels rusted on - and so do the pool room full of iconic phrases that’ve since entered the lexicon of millions of larrikin Aussies.
Lion
After becoming lost on the streets of Calcutta, a 5 year old Indian boy is adopted by a couple in Australia - but never stops wondering about his first home. 25 years later, he sets out to find it.
The only true story on our list, the heartwarming Lion proves that home is something we never stop searching for, even against impossible odds. Based on the memoir by Saroo Brierley, this impressive Aussie-UK co-production takes us on a 25-year journey; one that begins when Saroo is separated from his family at a train station in Burhanpur, India at only 5 years of age. He survives (barely) on scraps of food for weeks before an adoption service gifts Saroo a new life: growing up a world away in a loving home in Tasmania, Australia.
For countless disadvantaged Indian kids, a middle-class upbringing with food, toys and love on tap probably sounds like hitting the jackpot - and for Saroo, it is. But he naturally yearns to know his biological family and where he spent the first 5 years of his life. With only a few faint childlike memories (like the train station starting with ‘B’), Saroo spends nearly 10,000 hours on a quest to find his original home.
“I don't think I've ever seen a movie that's this focused [on] the experience of adoption and the relationship between adoptive parents and adopted children… it's a rich subject that we don't see enough on film.” ~ Alonso Duralde
For director Garth Davis and crew, telling Saroo’s story with authenticity was key. They wanted to capture the sights and sounds: not just of India itself, but the actual train stations and bustling areas of Kolkata that Saroo experienced at age 5. They even tracked down and filmed scenes in Saroo’s actual childhood home village of Khandwa. Working with local crews helped imbue the genuine feel of India that Davis was striving for - as did the award-winning cinematography. And Dev Patel, who played the adult Saroo, spent eight months researching the role and preparing an Australian accent (complete with Tasmanian dialect) for the film.
Saroo's incredible story gives Lion the wattage to highlight a universal truth: the role our home and childhood memories play in shaping who we are. It reminds us that no matter where life takes us, the connection to our family remains; like Saroo, we’re all on our own journeys to find our place in the world.
“It's an incredible story that taps into something primal in us as human beings - the need to find home and the need to know who you are." ~ Emile Sherman, Producer
An impactful and touching viewing experience, Lion roared in cinemas, becoming a critical and commercial success. It went on to receive six Oscar nominations (including Best Picture) and became one of the highest-grossing Aussie films of all time, earning over $140 million at the global box office. But while its accolades and ticket sales were richly deserved, we’d argue Lion’s message - that the memories of our home are always a part of us - is worth just as much.
Encanto
The Madrigals live hidden in the mountains of Colombia in a magical house, where teenage Mirabel faces the frustration of being the only member of her family without magical powers. Then Mirabel discovers that the magic surrounding their family home is in danger...
Since we’re talking about the magic of home, we can’t go past a movie with an actual magical home, can we? Any parent, auntie or uncle will probably be well aware of last year’s vividly colourful Encanto (especially its absolute earworm of a tune from Lin-Manuel Miranda… for someone who supposedly doesn’t get talked about, that Bruno sure got a TON of airplay!)
While fellow Pixar stablemates Coco, Soul, Up & Inside Out all do a pretty great job of emphasising the importance of connection and belonging, for our money the Oscar-winning Encanto is unrivalled in its family message. The fact that it just happens to be set in Colombia - where everything from the flora and fauna to the local clothing & architecture looks stunningly beautiful - is just a healthy bonus.
Like most teenage girls, Mirabel gets a bit grumpy when things don’t go her way - although in her case, it’s because everyone in her family has magical powers except her. Okay, that one’s a bit unique. And while she thinks that’s the biggest problem in her life, boy is she about to be wrong. The Madrigal family home - their “Encanto” - acts as their spiritual protector, and even helpfully shapeshifts to help out the family in all kinds of ways. Who wouldn’t want a house that does the vacuuming and dishes for you, right?! But when their Encanto loses its magical powers and (literally) begins falling apart, the family’s world is tipped upside down.
“Encanto grasps at richer themes about how the family's magic is only part of what defines them.” ~ The Inlander
Along the journey to save their home, Mirabel learns that her family member’s individual powers aren’t what matters - it’s their love and support for one another that holds the true power. Unsurprisingly, Encanto wraps up on a high chock-full of community spirit, as the whole town arrives to help the magical Madrigals rebuild their home. But of course, we’ve got the bigger message that Pixar assembled all those vivid pixels to convey… the “magic” that infuses our own family homes is really just another name for the memories, traditions, and connections that we build within them over time.
Away We Go
Awaiting the birth of their baby, a couple travel America in search of the perfect place to raise their family. During their journey, the people they encounter help them redefine the word ‘home’.
British filmmaker Sam Mendes is no stranger to domestic stories, picking up a directing Oscar for 1999’s American Beauty (and seeing it win Best Picture to boot - not bad for your first try). But where that film zeroed in on the Burnham home to weave a pitch-dark satire about a dissolving marriage, this comedy-drama travelogue is the tonal opposite: sweet, funny, touching and with something authentic to say about our imperfect struggles to find the perfect patch.
“(The film) is a very sly exploration of the notion of what constitutes a home and how you find your identity and how that’s linked into where you live.” ~ Sam Mendes
Early 30’s Verona and Burt are half-delighted, half-alarmed when they learn they’re becoming a family of three. They’ve “barely got their s**t together”... they need to sort out a proper home pronto, somewhere fit to raise a family. With no roots to speak of, it could be anywhere in the United States… so, where? They set off on a whirlwind road trip to visit friends and siblings, trying out Arizona, Wisconsin, Montreal and Florida… but it’s not just to road-test the different towns and weather. They’re trying to get a sense of what family life is like, too. They may not admit it at first, but for Verona and Burt, the journey is less about the “where” and more about the “who”. Where they end up living matters - but figuring out what type of parents they want to be matters so much more.
Away We Go is a movie that underlines it’s the people we shack up with that really make a house a home. At one point, Verona’s sister Grace - in Arizona, if you’re keeping track - is weighing up breaking up with her “boring” boyfriend. When she overhears Burt on the phone joking and laughing with a friend, she tells Verona how lucky she is to have him by her side (she agrees!). We won’t spoil the spot that Burt & Verona settle on, but the realisation their journey ends with is one we can all recognise: it's not about having the “perfect” home. Filling the one you’ve got with warmth, laughter, and love is what really matters.
Parasite
All unemployed, Ki-taek's family takes a peculiar interest in the wealthy and glamorous Parks and their luxurious home - until they get entangled in an unexpected incident.
To complete our house tour, here’s perhaps the most challenging film on our list. But there’s a reason Bong Joon-ho’s Korean black comedy thriller became the first non-English-language film in Academy Awards history to win that year’s top prize for Best Picture: it’s a work of genius.
Our heroes are the impoverished Kim family, who use their skills and their cheeky wiles to infiltrate the wealthy (but slightly dim) Park family's stunning modern Korean home: as the family driver, their children’s tutor, and their daily housekeeper. Watching them pull off the ruse is delicious, and wondering how long they’ll get away with their deception is part of the joy. The Kim’s aren’t villains, just desperate to get ahead and make something of themselves as a family unit. We genuinely root for them as we watch them count coupons or fold pizza boxes for minimal pay in their cramped and ugly basement apartment (their home is literally below the street - a plot point that rushes to the fore in a climactic flooding scene). Contrast that with the cutting edge glass mansion of the Park family. “We’re smarter, more connected, more self-aware than them!” the subtext seems to cry. “Why should we have so much less!?”
There’s no doubt that Parasite offers a complex commentary, but it’s one that’s incredibly rewarding. It shapeshifts the Park’s home over the course of the film from a site of luxurious comfort to one of conflict and tragedy, and Joon-ho chucks in a scathing view of inequality and class in today’s world for good measure. That might sound heavy, but the wonderful cast - and that pin-sharp architectural home - cement Parasite as a fascinating film about family that we keep returning to over and over again.
In the mood for a different flick? Discover more stories about family and community at good.film!
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