Watch "Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters" movie on PureFlix

My Review of Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters (movie)

Review written by Alexis A. Goring

Pure Flix VIP Ambassador program asked me to review the movie Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters. I watched this heartwarming movie on August 5. First, I’d like to describe the storyline in the words of talking points from Momentum then I’ll share my thoughts (review).

According to Momentum, this movie is based on the New York Times Bestselling book written by Dr. Meg Meeker. Here’s the summary for this movie: When a wealthy businessman learns his daughter is engaged to a missionary, he embarks on a quest to keep her closer to home. But when his efforts go awry, he must learn to give up control and trust God with her future. Steve loves all three of his daughters – but does he really know who they are? Discover the heartfelt journey of a dad who is desperately trying to hold onto his little girls but learns he must give up control and trust God with their future.

Now for my review:

This movie was inspired by Dr. Meg Meeker’s best-selling book, “Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters.” The movie features real-life married couples Bart Johnson & Robin Lively and Maria Canals-Barrera & David Barrera. I thought that was a nice touch that made the movie all the more personal and engaging! In the movie, Steve has three daughters: Abby (adult), Zoe (teen) and Bridget (young tween). But this movie is centered more on Abby who wants to marry a missionary. She announces her engagement to Oz (the missionary) as a surprise when she visits home and says they plan to move to Kenya after they marry. This clashes with Steve’s plans for Abby to join the family business in Corporate America and have her own office as Junior Executive. From that point forward, the audience is taken on a wild ride of family conflict, drama, faith in action, life lessons and plot twists you won’t soon forget.

Themes of this movie included:

• Seeing your children through different phases of life and viewing them through the eyes of others
• The difficulty of letting go as your children grow and allowing them to live their own lives (trusting them to fly the coop)
• Competition between dad and future son-in-law
• Who is in control? Us or God? 
• Parenting is about being present and available and encouraging them to pursue their own dreams
• Forgiveness
• Acknowledging mistakes were made in order to change and grow
• Seeing past your own expectations and allowing people to discover their own gifts and own path in life

I loved everything about this movie except the way they portrayed Kenya and talked about Africa. As a person of color who is part of the African Diaspora, I find it offensive when people in real-life or in fiction/media/movies, talk about Africa with words that paint a picture of it as a dangerous, dark and wild place filled with lions and poor people who live in mud huts.

Sadly, these were the kind of references made several times by the characters in this movie (mainly Steve who played the father of the bride). At one point, Steve said his daughter (Abby) would be “Living in a mud hut” if she moves to Kenya. And at another point, he told his colleagues that “She’ll be playing with lions and hyenas.” 

These type of comments are not taken personal by mainstream America and obviously by the people who made this movie. But for people who have roots in the continent of Africa, such portrayal of their ancestors’ homeland is not only hurtful but untrue. This is 2022, most countries in Africa are civilized and have rich cities, nice restaurants, five-star hotels, expensive houses and luxurious resorts. Sure, there may be parts of Africa and other countries outside of Africa that are still tribal. But with the way Africa was talked about in this movie, you’d think the entire continent was stuck in primitive days. 

For me, the way that Africa was talked about took away from the beauty of this movie. However, I think that overall it was a wonderful movie and the acting was superb. It’s just hard to get over the negative light they shone on Kenya (Africa) and sadly it also hurts because these are views that people have about Africa in real-life not just in fiction or movies. It’s hurtful and hard move past as a person who has roots in Africa.

Here's the website link to where you can watch Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters:
https://www.pureflix.com/movie/strong-fathers-strong-daughters

See the movie trailer:
https://youtu.be/M7piWfjoypc

Watch the Momentum Influencers Interview conducted by Jean Thomason featuring Dr. Meg Meeker, author of the book that inspired this movie here:
https://youtu.be/GNZvXTrk95M

Before you go, enter this contest for your chance to WIN one 3-month PureFlix subscription!

Please note: This giveaway is limited to U.S. residents only. The giveaway starts today and ends on August 14, 2022.

Here is the Giveaway Contest link:
http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/f8dcb68c397/

Disclosure: Many thanks to Pure Flix for providing a sample of the product for this review. Opinions are 100% my own.

#StrongFathersMIN #MomentumInfluencerNetwork