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We don't choose our family!

Shoplifters (2018)
Director: Hirokazu Kore-eda

What is the meaning of being a parent? Is it merely a process of transferring genetic material or a legal process determined by a piece of certificate and the State? We all know that being a parent is beyond all these. There is love, cuddling, touching, nurturing and many more. But then we also see abuses and unconducive environments set by parents for the growing minds.

The low-key movie tells us in a very unusual way what it is to be family. A family, in their definition, does not involve Nature but rather tend to imply that it involves appropriate nurturing techniques that prepare children to adulthood and make their lives on Earth worth living. It does not conform to what we expect a typical family to be.

The film starts with a slightly older man with a young preteen boy pilfering something from a convenience store. Then we see that they live in a bare thread cramped living quarters with a mother figure, a grandmother figure and another young adult lady. A young girl is seen wandering outside in the cold, hungry. The 'family' take her to feed her and keep her warm. They see signs of physical abuse on her. Trying to return her to her home the next day, they overhear her parents yelling at each other on top of their voices. They decide to keep and care for the girl.

A family that shoplifts together stay together!
The father loses his construction job after injuring his ankle. The mother is retrenched from her job at the laundry. The household runs on the grandmother's pension money, and the family filled the rest of their needs via shoplifting. They justify their crime with their own moral codes. The family unit can be seen to be very intimate and happy.

Everything caved in when the boy got caught shoplifting, and police moved in. Only then, the whole truth comes to the fore. None of the kids is the couple's, and there is a secret of alleged murder and concealment of a dead body.

In a world where children are abused and neglected, does it mean anything to sire a child? There must be more criteria to be met for qualifying to be a parent. But then, we must also be aware that we cannot use our yardstick to gauge whether a parent meets the criteria of good parents. Everyone has their way of instilling discipline and imparting knowledge to their young.
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Location: Kuala Lumpur, Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

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