Tango

Mario, the director in the movie Tango, has a story to tell.  His supporters want an entertaining, mindless movie to watch, but Mario is plagued by the memories of his earlier years in Argentina.  He has recently just returned to Argentina himself, and he remembers countless people who just disappeared.  He remembers the refugees. He wants to make the ultimate Tango film.  The usual sensual nature of the dance is seen in many parts of the film especially as he puts his feelings of loneliness for his lost love in the story line.  But when he portrays the gruesome reality of Argentina's past the dance becomes very harsh and stiff.  Many people are seen dying.  The dance tells the story instead of words.

Light and darkness are seen throughout the movie to represent good and evil.  In one scene the stage is painted half white and half dark with the dancers in all white and dark.  They appeared to represent the military and the people.  Several scenes showed silhouettes of the actors through a screen, contrasting light and dark.

The movie ends with the refugees finding a new home.  They signify the safety they found and new life they will have by singing and dancing.  A fitting way for them to celebrate as it is such a part of their culture.

Brenda Johnson

El Viaje de Carol

Carol traveled to Spain with her mother.  At first Carol does not want anything to do with the boys who catch birds and tease her.  However, after an all out wrestling match with Tomiche, she becomes best friends with him. Carol is a tomboy, always wearing overalls, and climbing trees.  Spain's culture encourages girls to be feminine and wear pretty dresses.  Carol does not want to conform to this.  She runs away from her Aunt's house and convinces her grandfather to live at the home place with her so that she does not have to conform to her Aunt's rules.  She is not Catholic but decides to take first communion with her friends, if she can wear a sailor outfit. She wins and wears the outfit.

Carol comes to Spain in 1938, two years after the start of the Spanish  Civil War.  This war is considered to be a precursor to WWII. The first bomb raids were conducted here assisted by Germany.  In 1939 the Civil War was over.   Francisco Franco began his 35 year dictatorship at this time.  Those who opposed Franco were imprisoned or executed.  Carol and Tomiche watched as Franco supporters took prisoners and listened as they were executed.  Carol's American upbringing made her want to stand up for what was right and not quietly stand by, but there was little that could be done.   Carol's father, Robert, is on the front lines of the war.  When the Franco supporters won the war he escapes and comes to see Carol, however, the house is raided and Robert is followed into the woods.  Eventually this leads to the death of Tomiche.  What a very sad ending!

Volver

Volver is a film full of examples of strong Spanish women.  Raimunda is determined to take care of her family when her husband loses his job.  Her husband is content to forget about his troubles with a beer.  Raimunda works several jobs.  One night when she gets off the bus her daughter, Paula, meets her.  Something terrible has happened.  Paco, the husband, had been drinking and attempted to molest Paula.  In an attempt to stop Paco, Paula threatens him with a knife.  Paco doesn't take Paula seriously and she ends up killing him.  At this point I was surprised Raimunda chose to hide the body.  In our country, the daughter would have had a fair trial and could have pled self defense.  From other films we have seen about the disarray of government, I can see why this may not have been an option.  Raimunda took things in her own hands and hid the body.  She even tried to take the blame of the murder from Paula.  It is also amazing to me that she loves and cares for her daughter so much even though Paula was a result of her own fathers incest.  

Sole, Raimunda's sister, is also very strong.  She runs her own beauty shop from her home.  When faced with what she believes is the ghost of her mother she takes her in and tries to change her identity.  Irene the mother of Sole and Raimunda has been strong caring for Tia Paula until her death.  Irene stays inside at all times since everyone believes her to be dead. 

The superstitions of the Spanish people are very evident.  The winds are said to make people crazy.  There are strong beliefs in spirits.  The graves are cared for to keep the spirits happy.  There was a lot of evidence pointing to someone caring for Tia Paula.  The village people could have figured it out but were quick to believe Irene's spirit was back.  Even in the end, when Augustine sees and is cared for by Irene, she believes Irene is a ghost.

Brenda Johnson

Entre Nos

The problem of husbands and fathers abandoning their families unfortunately is not limited to the Hispanic culture.  It is very prevalent in African American cultures, and is not uncommon throughout America.  Mariana was placed in a dire situation when she was left with no way of getting a job.  Her children were young and needed supervision. She had no green card to seek employment.  On top of all that, her rent was not up to date and they lost the apartment as well as the meager possessions in the apartment.  Mariana had no support systems.  She had no friends, no family, and no doubt she was illegally in the country and afraid to seek assistance from the government or any organization.  Typically, an American woman would have at least one of these support systems.  That is not to say that it is not a desperate situation, but usually the women and children do not end up on the street sleeping, or digging through trash for cans. 

I would say it was Mariana's strong character and upbeat attitude in the worst of times that kept her little family together.  While watching this film, I was very sad, but thought it was a fictional story.  When I read the postscripts, I was truly amazed.  Often these families end up in gangs, but she was determined to care for her children.  She motivated her children to become hard working, strong individuals.  In the end the movie was inspiring to me. 

Brenda Johnson

The Official Story

Alicia, a history teacher and wealthy housewife, is torn apart in this movie.  Her comfortable life is changes when she comes face to face with her husband's dealings with the military government.  Alicia and her husband, Roberto, have a young daughter who they adopted at birth.  Roberto brought the baby home without any explanation.  Alicia spends the next years with the assumption her baby girl was not wanted by her birth mother. Suddenly several things happento change that. 

Ana, Alicia's old friend, reappears after her disappearance of many years.  She explains in detail to Alicia how she was imprisoned and tortured for several months.  Ana tells about prisoners who delivered babies in prison but the babies were taken away and sold to people who "didn't ask questions".   Demonstrations are being held in the streets, demanding the return of those who "disappeared".  The students in Alicia's history class are questioning the government stating "history is written by assassins."

I do not believe Alicia is able to reconcile her beliefs that her daughter is the child of a murdered political prisoner.  She comes to believe that her daughter may be the granddaughter of Sara, a demonstrator.  She also realizes her husband is involved with the military campaign.  At the beginning of the movie Alicia is totally naive to what is going on about her.  At the end she recognizes the truth, and she leaves Roberta because she cannot go along with what he is doing.  However, the movie does not let us know if Alicia tells the child the truth or lets her meet her grandmother.  This was another sad movie, especially knowing similar scenarios most likely did happen in the 1970's when Argentine was in much turmoil.

Brenda Johnson

Like Water for Chocolate

In Like Water for Chocolate Tita and Pedro fall helplessly in love at a very young age.  They are seen about town holding hands.  Everyone around them sees how happy they are when they are together.  This magical time ends abruptly when Pedro is given the answer "no" to his request for Tita's hand.  When made aware of the despicable tradition of forcing the youngest daughter to never marry and always be the caregiver of the mother, Pedro makes a rash decision.  He believes if he cannot be with Tita then he will at least be near her if he marries her sister.  While this is a noble idea, I believe it was a very bad decision.  Elena, Tita's mother, was cruel to even suggest he should marry the sister.  In addition to being cruel to Tita and Pedro, this was also unkind to Rosaura.  The movie is not about Rosaura, but I feel she was also a victim of the situation.  She thought Pedro would grow in love with her but this was never to happen and she lived a life of loneliness and unhappiness.  I would want Pedro and Tita to stand up to Elena in the first place.  Running away and getting married would have been far better.  Pedro's father should have stopped him from marrying Rosaura.  This is a good example of why you should not do something just for traditions sake. 

Magic Realism was very prevalent throughout this movie.  Tita transfers her love to her food she cooks.  This love becomes magic in those that eat the food.  At the wedding it makes everyone cry after eating cake with her tears in it.  Later her sister is consumed with the passion put into the rose petal meal.  She runs away with the revolutionary fighters.  Elena keeps reappearing to Tita, tormenting her even after death.  Finally Tita stands up to her and she is gone once and for all.

Diarios de Motocicleta

Ernesto Guevara took a life changing trip through South America.  Almost graduating from medical school, he and his friend Alburto take a break from life and ride a motorcycle through South America so they can see the people and land of the surrounding country.  Throughout this film it is evident Ernesto has strong leadership qualities.  He is unwavering when his friend is insisting on telling tall tales just to get food or a drink.  Ernesto or "Fuser" insists on telling one man that he has a tumor and should be checked out.  Another time he honestly gives his opinion about the novel.  He is liked by all and quickly understands the plight of the people around him.  I believe the mining scene most likely had the most impact on him.  The poor people had their land taken from them and were destitute for food and shelter, the most basic of human needs.  I believe Ernesto was so disgusted by what he witnessed as poverty and unfairness in the human plight that he felt communism was the answer for it all.  He believed in communism with all his heart.  While during the movie you would not imagine him being the gorilla warrior he later became, since he was very honest, caring, and gentle, I believe the hatred for the "enemy" was born on this trip.  He later is quoted as saying, "a revolutionary must become a cold killing machine motivated by pure hate."

The Spanish speaking world appears to celebrate with great flamboyance.   Music, dancing and food are very much the center of every celebration.  Any occasion is a good one to have a party but birthdays are particularly special. 

El Mariachi

Mexican stereotypes are depicted throughout the film.  Hundreds of years ago conquistadors from Spain came and conquered the New World for their homeland.  The idea of a macho ruler has carried over into today’s society, and is often seen as the drug lords and gangs of Mexico.

Both Azul and Moco are the ruthless gang lords.  They worked together at one time, but have turned on each other for their own personal gain.  Azul has revenge in mind for not getting his share.  You can see even the guys who are under them are willing to sacrifice their partners if it will save their own necks.  In the end the new boss lights his match on his old boss’s dead chin.

This violence is very prevalent in today’s Mexican culture.  I personally am acquainted with missionaries in Mexico.  In the past year one of them was shot and killed while riding in a car, simply because they did not stop when asked to.  They did not stop because they were afraid.

The Mariachi lives to sing.  His whole purpose in life is to entertain through singing.  This is passed from generation to generation. The Mariachi is not concerned with money and worldly possessions so much as he is to sing his message to audiences.  In this film the Mariachi does not want to be caught up in the violence but is forced into it by being mistaken as the bad guy.  He ends up killing people in self defense when all he really wanted was to “be a Mariachi”. 

Music plays a huge part of this film.  Soft love songs are sung by the Mariachi.  More sinister songs are in the background during the scarier parts of the film.  When the Mariachi loses his guitar he will do anything to have it back including risking his life.  Music is his life.  In the end he kills the man who shoots his hand.

Machuca

Machuca

Gonzalo and Pedro are from opposite extremes of society, yet they form a very tight bond.  Gonzalo knows what it means to be picked on by peers, and I feel he relates to Pedro in this area.  He feels sorry for Pedro.  He wants to experience life through Pedro's eyes.  He goes to the demonstrations with Pedro's family.  Each family puts down the other child, but the boys stand by each other.  They do not care about social class or skin color. 

There are vast differences between the poor and rich social classes of Chile.  The poor had nothing at all.  They lived in a shack village and had a community out house for a bath room.  The rich could purchase whatever they wanted from the black market.  They had nice homes with house hold help.  They had the luxury of moving to a different country if things were not going well in Chile, while the poor were herded up like cattle for the slaughter.

The main thrust of the film was the political upheaval that many Spanish countries experience every day.   It brought home the stark reality of living in a world where the people have no voice.  It put faces to the stories you hear in the news.  I am not a socialist and would not want communist to take over, but is the military government any better?  I think not. 

Under the Same Moon

            Under the Same Moon is a very heartrending movie.  Rosria, the mother, entered the United States illegally and was working for very wealthy individuals in LA.  She was trying to provide a better life for her son.  She could not bring her son with her to the US because it would have been too dangerous. In addition, she would have no one to care for him while she was working.

            Mexico is a very poor country.  Rosria was a single mother.  She may not have been able to find employment in Mexico, and if she did it was not enough to make ends meet.  Furthermore, the grandmother, Bonita, was elderly and in poor health.  No doubt, she could not work for a living.  Rosria was taking care of her mother and her son.

            Rosria had confidence in Bonita that she would provide the nurturing her son would need to grow and mature.  However, there are many times throughout the movie where you can see her heart is broken to not be with her son.  The weekly phone call was heart breaking.  Rosria would write "Carlos" in the soap when she would clean.  She would be tearful when watching a mother kiss her child goodnight.  They would look at the moon at night and know they were both under the same moon.  Ultimately, Rosria decided to leave everything behind and go back to be with her son, leaving behind a promising relationship and job opportunities. 

            Carlos was a strong self driven boy of 9 years.  He thought he was grown.  He wanted to be with his mother more than anything.  He was willing to risk all his money and his life to be with her.  At one point he felt she did not love him.

            It is hard to say if a mother in the US would do the same.  I don't feel there is anything that would separate me from my children.  However, I have never been in that kind of hopeless situation.  No doubt, when Rosria left Carlos she did not feel it would be that long of a separation.