OMAHA is a Beautiful Yet Heart-Wrenching Film That Hurts - Sundance Review
As a father, Omaha hit me in a way that few films do. It’s a raw, deeply personal story about father and his kids set against the backdrop of the 2008 financial crisis, a time when many parents were doing everything they could just to keep their heads above water.
I know that weight all too well. The stress of trying to shield your kids from the harsh reality of financial struggle while silently drowning in it yourself is a brutal balancing act. This film captures that experience with an authenticity that is both beautiful and heartbreaking.
Director Cole Webley’s debut feature strips away excess, focusing on quiet, unspoken emotions rather than overt exposition.
The story follows Ella and Charlie, two siblings abruptly taken on a cross-country trip by their father after a family tragedy. On the surface, it’s a road trip movie, but underneath, it’s something much heavier.
Ella begins to sense that their father’s plan isn’t what it seems, and as the pieces slowly fall into place, the weight of that realization is devastating. There’s an aching sincerity in every frame.
The performances help make Omaha the powerful film that it is. John Magaro, as the father, carries a quiet desperation that never feels forced, just painfully real. He’s a man trying to maintain the illusion of normalcy, masking his turmoil with forced smiles and roadside stops.
Newcomers Molly Belle Wright and Wyatt Solis bring an incredible naturalism to their roles. Wright, in particular, becomes the heart of the film, her watchful gaze slowly unraveling the truth before she’s fully ready to face it.
The way these performances interact with Magaro trying to protect, Solis embracing the adventure, and Wright piecing it all together, it creates an emotional tension.
And then there’s the ending. It wrecked me. It’s the kind of gut-punch that you don’t fully process until you’re sitting in silence, staring at the screen, feeling hollow.
I loved Omaha for its honesty, but I also hated it for how painfully real it is. The film intertwines its personal story with Nebraska’s 2008 safe haven law, which, due to a loophole, led to dozens of older children being abandoned by desperate parents.
That haunting real-world backdrop makes the film’s final moments even harder to shake. Omaha holds up a mirror to a harsh reality, one that too many families have faced.