← Back to Directory
Once Upon a Time... This Morning
Movie

Once Upon a Time... This Morning

1995 • Unknown

Woke Score
2
out of 10

Plot

A middle-class couple are separating and the three kids are to stay with their bossy and resentful mother. Missing their beloved father, the kids run away to look for him – unaware that the baby's carry-cot contains a bag of pure heroin hidden by a street-kid during a police raid.

Overall Series Review

The film, a 1995 Thai drama, is a family melodrama blended with a crime thriller that explores the sanctity of the family unit against the backdrop of modern urban social problems. The narrative is explicitly moral, focusing on the children's longing for a stable home and the father's protective devotion. The core conflict is rooted in a critique of modern life's pressures that lead to family breakdown. The mother's decision to leave the "cozy little suburban home" to focus on her career and magazine is presented as the catalyst for the family's unhappiness, directly contrasting with the father's patient and domestic devotion to the children. The children's flight from their "bossy and resentful mother" to find their "beloved father" is the central emotional engine of the story. The film contrasts the protective bonds of the family with the nihilistic world of drug trafficking and street crime in Bangkok's underworld. The overall tone is one that champions traditional domestic values and parental responsibility.

Categorical Breakdown

Identity Politics2/10

The film's primary conflict is one of class and morality, contrasting the middle-class family with the criminal underclass involved in drug running. Character merit, particularly the father's devotion, is central to the narrative's moral compass. The film is Thai-centric and contains no elements of 'race-swapping' or 'whiteness' vilification.

Oikophobia4/10

The narrative's critique is focused on the 'less attractive aspects of western life' and modern corruption that is breaking apart the Thai family unit, such as the mother's careerism and the father's loss of the traditional suburban home. This is a critique of modern societal decay, not an outright demonization of the nation's core heritage or ancestors. The film ultimately champions the institution of the family as the essential shield.

Feminism2/10

The narrative's central conflict is caused by the mother's career ambition and resultant neglect, as she is described as 'bossy and resentful' and moving to the city for her magazine job. The father is portrayed as the superior parent—'devoted and patient'—whose traditional domestic role (bedtime stories, good cooking) is missed. This structure actively critiques the 'career-first' dynamic, which runs opposite to the 'Girl Boss' trope.

LGBTQ+1/10

The film focuses entirely on the breakdown of a traditional male-female marriage and the nuclear family unit. There is no presence of alternative sexualities, gender ideology, or a critique of the nuclear family as an institution.

Anti-Theism1/10

The plot centers on objective evils (drug running, child neglect, crime) and the transcendent good of family love. Themes revolve around innocence and tradition, including the father's 'paper-doll fairy tales.' There is no indication of hostility toward Christianity or any other religion, and morality is clearly presented as objective.