Netflix, Burnt Onion Production, KwaZulu National Film Commission of South Africa, present Kenneth Nkosi (Joseph), Unathi Hampofu (Nnadi), Lubabalo Tula (Junior), Yeya Ralarala (Lily), Kopano Mahlasi (Zamo), Wayne Van Rooyen (Tyron), and Tina Jaxa (Dora). Director/Screenwriter, Rethabile Ramaphakela; Producer, Phuthi Nakene; Director of Photography, Bradley Devine ©2024.
Chevy Chase (Clark Griswold) National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation is a movie about a man who asks his wife to have a perfect Christmas vacation with his family, which turns out to be a riotous one. This is a Disaster Holiday from the get-go. Meet Joseph (Kenneth Nkosi) on a vacation trip to Durban with his three-year-old younger wife and three young children. Not quite an hour from Joburg, the trip goes awry. It starts with a flat tire and no spare; they leave the spot with mud-splattered faces.
Joseph’s company obliged him to attend an executive meeting, which he would have to present that weekend. He has been a deadbeat dad in the lives of his three kids since he and his ex-wife are locked in a custody battle over them. To make up for the loss of his absence and make it up to them, he decides to take them on a vacation to Zanzibar. Just as his reputation as an absentee parent depends on this trip, so does his ex-wife, Dora (Tina Jaxa), who is as aggressive and angry as most ex-wives and doesn’t believe anything Joseph says. She thinks Joseph’s a loser. Thus, his reputation as a trustworthy dad depends on his promise to his children that they will have a once-in-a-lifetime weekend in Zanzibar. As kids of this day, some have already put the Zanzibar vacation on Facebook and other social media.
Then, his company threw a spanner in his well-planned schedule to meet at a resort in Durban the same weekend to present an advertising project to promote toilet paper, the company’s main product. He is in a pickle about scheduling his time between his job, which is on the verge of losing to Tyron (Wayne Van Rooyen), with whom he shares the same office space. (A moron with a queer disposition). And what of the once-in-a-lifetime vacation promise he had made to his wife and kids? Not Zanzibar, but a hotel resort in Durban, in the guise of making his presentation without letting his family know. He doesn’t recommend Zanzibar with all those naked girls, he tells them. As a man good with words, Joseph lets them know the essence of a road trip, allowing them to bond, as has always been his longing.
The disaster for this vacation starts at the get-go, I said, when Lily (Yeya Ralarala) calls her father, Joseph, like an ordinary person with no grain of respect.” Joseph solemnly walks to her and instructs, “Lily, I am your father; call me Baba.” That tells us Joseph has not been in his kid’s lives for a while. Like most young boys, Junior (Lubabalo Yula) is busy with the latest amusing post on social media. In an angry tone, the teenage girl, the first of his children, Zamo (Kopano Malasi), accuses her father of missing her graduation. (Gosh, I saw myself in that picture.) “You missed it, Baba. This was the final assembly for the term, and I won the top prize for my year, but you weren’t there to see any of it.” ––A confession I could make here: I wasn’t there for both my kids’ graduations, one from college and one from military training. I wish I had had the chance to harvest this farm. I nurtured it for eighteen years, and God in heaven will not have me present at the happy harvest. Our marriage was on the brink of a bitter divorce. I will take the guilt to my grave. Joseph, too, had a reason for his absence in his kids’ lives. “You can hear from my lawyer” was the common language between him and his angry ex-wife. –– “I’m sorry, my baby,” Joseph says so unobtrusively, guiltily.
The vacation has mishap after mishap, yet there is no dull moment. Joseph’s car runs into a ditch and has a flat tire. He had left the spare tire behind because he did not have space in the trunk. Then, when he lets his oldest daughter drive, a sibling rows between her and Junior over her phone, leaving the car in drive mode, and it rolls away to the muddy pond. They scramble their luggage out of the vehicle (funny scene). They are saved by an off-the-road motel owner who lent Joseph her old, battered van to Durban. The family is happy when they hit the beach, and Joseph joins the fun. Then, “Classic Lily” is always left behind or gets lost in the festive atmosphere of the beach, and her father gets mugged by a group of women who assume him to be a child kidnapper. He ends up in remand for some time. Remember, Joseph must make his presentation the next day.
Joseph’s company scheduled a retreat in Durban for Saturday afternoon at a hotel. During this time, he will present the ad idea he has come up with to executives. And he isn’t alone. He has a competitor, and the best presenter must be the head of the marketing department since the company’s about to trim down, and one person must be laid off. Joseph is in a real pickle; his job is on the wire. First, like all vacation rules, when one must leave everything behind, I mean workwise, Joseph wasn’t supposed to bring his laptop on the trip. Yet, he hid one in his luggage.
This is the only instance in the movie that made me or you, as a parent, shed a tear or two. After this, we are off to the races. Fun, fun, and fun! Like I said earlier, Lily, the youngest of the kids, has a bladder problem and cannot hold it in. Zamo aptly corrects her Baba when he can’t correctly get her age. “Baba, I’m eighteen.” She snapped. Joseph is someone like me who never remembers a date. I never remember the date I married my ex-wife, except it was Valentine’s Day when we took the vow. I’m poor at keeping little, little things in my little head. No, not endowed with a big head. Joseph must convince the crew to go to Durban instead of Zanzibar. This doesn’t sit well with the kids and his wife, Nnandi (Unathi Umpofu). He sells them the fun of a road trip to Durban instead of flying so they can bond more and even promise little Lily a visit to the beach.
If you have followed the narrative thread so far, you are on the edge of your seat, biting your fingers, and wondering if Joseph will make it to the presentation in Durban. He has lost his family, and his job is on the line. Call it a Disaster Holiday for all you care, but to Joseph, it’s like killing two birds with one stone: The family had fun, bonded, and, in the nick of time, was able to make an unbelievable presentation. Tyron couldn’t beat Joseph to it with all the tissues he wrapped his family in. Joseph replaced the naughty manager instead of losing his job with the company. That’s what a real man could be. Rethabile Ramaphakela, the screenwriter and director of this piece, did a remarkable job with it.