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