Tango

          This film was truely enjoyable to watch, and different from other films that we have screened in class. Throughout the movie, there is very little conversation. The character's emotions are well portrayed through the use of music and dance. The music consumes most of the video, but tells the story well. The Tango style of dance is very fun to watch. Steps in this style of dance are so precise with the music and the emotions of the dancers are dramtic and intense.
          The lighting and colors used in this film really stand out to the viewer. Often, dark rooms were lit with vibrant backgrounds, and all the viewer could see were the outline of the characters. The colorful backdrops would light the wood floor of the studio for an even bigger color contrast.
          Mario re-creates the military years in Argentina by creating a scene where the characters portray the disappearance of the citizens. Although I first found this scene very confusing, after researching the background of this era, I thought this scene was very interesting. There was no conversation, but once again it was very intense to the viewer because of the music and dance.

Monika Carpenter

Carol's Journey

          Carol, a 12 year old girl, travelled with her Mother to her home town in Spain, where her mother passed and left her in the care of her Grandfather and Aunt. Carol seems to be innocent, but her friendship with Tomiche allows her to overcome the new culture that she is exposed to. Tomiche helps keep her mind off of missing her father, and towards the end of the movie, Tomiche helps find her father when he attempts to hide from being captured. Tomiche even takes a bullett meant for Carol's father.
          After doing some research about the Franco years in Spain, I concluded that Chana was uneducated in reading and writing because that was the standard during this time period in Spain. It was interesting to watch Carol teaching her to read in one scene of the film. Carol's American background seems to interfere with her efforts to adapt to Spains new "franco regime". When she sees her father in the airplane and officials of the town were shooting at the plain, she didn't realize that her father was a target. When her father returned home, it seemed as though she was unaware that he had escaped. Carol was so excited that she wanted Tomiche to meet him.
          Carol went through a tremendous amount of loss at a young age. Her mother died unexpectedly (to her knowledge), and her father is away at war and is captured shortly after escaping and returning home. At one point, Carol was turned over to the custody of her Aunt, who seemed as though she did not care much for the person Carol was becoming. Through all of this, Carol managed to still enjoy being a child through the friendships she had made.

Volver

                I really appreciate the tribute to women and their resilience in the face of like’s most outrageous tribulations that the movie Volver displays. Raimunda reveals that she grew up feeling as though she was last on her mother’s list of priorities. Her daughter is really her sister, and after her husband attempts to rape her daughter, she defends what she has left of her pride and covers up the murder of her husband to protect her daughter. Raimunda was very strong and did a very good job at supporting her daughter when she really needed it. Raimunda worked every day of the week to support her and her daughter, and even ran a restaurant  behind the owner’s back to make money after her husband is dead.

                There are superstitious beliefs throughout the whole movie. First, the people of the village believed that the wind caused people to be “crazy”. I believe it was Sole that thought her mother had come back because she never quit thinking of her. Everyone believed that Sole and Raimunda’s mother had come back from the dead, when she never really died.

-Monika Carpenter

Entre Nos

           The film Entre Nos was very emotional and at times, hard to watch. When Mariana’s husband abandons the family, it turns Mariana and her children’s lives upside down. The three of them were forced to find any type of work to make a dime, including sifting through garbage cans for aluminum cans.

Mariana’s despair when her husband leaves her affects her children in many scenes. Gabi speaks with his mother many times about going to Miami and missing his father. Andrea, although younger, still felt the effects of her father leaving her. She tells Mariana in one scene that she is “not funny anymore”. The burden on the children is extremely sad.

                Gabi and Andrea’s courage was amazing. They were able to find fun even when trying to make money. It’s sad that they were forced to spend their first summer in the United States trying to support their family, but they were able to have some fun in scenes like the one where they sneak to the private pool.

                Mariana had an incredible amount of strength considering the circumstances. The scene where she purposefully miscarried the child in the bathtub was emotional, but very un-selfish.  It was unfortunate that she had to resort to that option, but in her case, she wasn’t able to take care of the two children that she had, so in my mind, she was an incredible person for being strong enough to go through that.

                Single mothers raising children alone is a very typical social issue in this county. The divorce rate in the United States is incredibly high, and it is very unfortunate for the children. Being a woman that comes from a separated family, I know how it affects a person. Fortunately, I was not raised in the same situation as Gabi and Andrea. I pity their family and was glad to see at the end of the movie that Gabi was given the opportunity to finally attend school, and his family was trying to get back on track.

Monika Carpenter

The Official Story

                I do not believe that Alicia is ever able to reconcile her personal thoughts about her suspicions that her daughter is the child of a murdered political prisoner. Although I found the ending somewhat confusing, it felt to me as though she may have acted like she accepted it after she was beat by her husband.

                There are many examples thought the film where Alicia shows the depth of her concern about her daughter’s biological parents. She spent a lot of time searching through archives and visiting the hospital trying to seek the truth. She also hid her feelings often, especially when her husband started accusing her of wanting to “get rid of” Gaby. The curiosity of finding out the truth and her concern of Gaby’s biological parents knowing the truth was all that Alicia could concentrate on. She changed her “hardcore” school teacher attitude once her  mind was occupied with this. She started to involve anyone that would help her find out the truth. There were many scenes where Alicia was at the protests looking at the posters.

                Shortly after bringing home the woman that Alicia suspects is Gaby’s Biological grandmother, Alicia’s husband begins getting more irritated that she is interested in the truth. The scene where Alicia is beat and her hand is smashed in the door was very hard to watch. He acted as though he had something to hind when he treated Alicia so poorly.

Monika Carpenter

Like Water for Chocolate

                Magical realism is conveyed well in the movie Like Water for Chocolate. In one scene, Tita breastfed her infant nephew in order to meet his nutritional needs. The milk just “magically” appeared in her breast. Throughout the whole movie, there is a theory about the use of matches and the trigger inside of the human body that lights them. All of these examples of supernatural ideas.

                The family tradition of the youngest daughter not marrying to take care of her mother is outrageous. It was awful to see Tita live the way she did only because she was the last born. Not only was her mother abusive, she wasn’t even able to follow her dreams and marry the man that she longed for.  When Esperanza took off with the man from the revolution, she was disowned by her mother, even to the point where her mother burned all of her memories.

                I really like the use of food throughout the entire movie. I have learned from this class the importance of food in the Hispanic culture, and it is used a lot in the movie. Tita prepared an elaborate meal each day, and often there were uses of “magic” in scenes where people ate the foods that she cooked.  Love was spread though her cooking, and in one scene after eating the food, everyone broke down in tears. It was really fascinating to watch.

                Every week we watch a movie, I think that they get more and more interesting. Every week I think I have a new favorite. This movie, with the use of magical realism, was very fun.

Motorcycle Diaries

               Motorcycle Diaries was a very beautiful film, although technical difficulties hindered the viewing for a majority of the film. I believe that this is one of my favorite movies that we have screened. During the expedition on Ernesto and Alberto, there are many encounters with other individuals in which I believe shaped Ernesto into becoming a future leader. Although their main purpose of the 8,000 kilometer trip seemed to be fun and exploration, they encounter the poverty of many indigenous peasants. In Chile, the pleasure travelers encounter a couple forced onto the road because of their communist beliefs. The pair also followed a couple to the mine and Ernesto become angry when he witnessed how the workers were being treated. While in Peru volunteering for three weeks at a colony, the pair witnessed the extreme division in society. These are only a few examples from the movie, but these encounters with social injustice are what transformed Ernesto’s view of the world.

                There were a few similarities and differences between the celebration viewed in this film and transitions in the United States. During Ernesto’s birthday party, the most noticeable difference was the fact that so many people gathered to celebrate his birthday, despite the fact that he had only been around for a matter of weeks. The food, cake, and dancing were present during the celebration is similar to that of a celebration in the United States.

El Mariachi blog

                There are many common Mexican stereotypes identified in the film El Mariachi.  First of all, the “macho” men were usually in groups, with good looking women catering to them. The violence and weapons could be classified as a stereotype.  The bandido-violence is commonly associated with the Mexican culture because of the drug and weapon cartel that they have become known for here in the United States. Movies like this portray violence that may or may not be exaggerated.

                The “Mariachi” in the film states “all I wanted was to be a mariachi like my ancestors.” His whole life revolved around his guitar and finding money to do what he thought he was born into. He wanted to follow the footsteps of his past generations, even though it appeared to be getting him nowhere in life. He felt that his purpose was to dedicate his life to singing for entertainment.

                The role of music is very important in this film. The whole film is based around this “mariachi’s” way of life. He fights for his life to do what he loves. He dreamed and lived it every day. The music played in the movie was also very significant. Every scene lead up to the next with some type of “spooky” background music. When the Mariachi was in the scene, whether he was playing his guitar or not, the music was usually very light. When Moco, for example, was a part of the scene, the “spooky” music once again played.

Machuca Film Review

In the movie Machuca, Gonzalo and Pedro form a very unlikely friendship, one that causes constant pressure on these young children lives. My first thought about the friendship between these two boys is that they need each other. Gonzalo is a very lonely kid, longing to find acceptance. Pedro is a “lower class” citizen in their culture, and he longs for the acceptance of kids like Gonzalo. Their friendship seems to also form from curiosity. They each wonder what the other’s life consist of. Gonzalo lived a rich, sheltered life and Pedro lived a wildly complicated, poor life. Also, Gonzalo’s mother is having a love affair with a wealthy older man. His father is sweet but ineffectual, and lacks the fire to fight for his marriage. He therefore escapes into his friendship with Pedro. Although they obviously notice the distinction of class, it seems as though they ignore it way more than adults would in this situation. The longing for acceptance in both of their lives seems to outweigh the social differences.

The differences between the two social classes were very obvious. One scene, Pedro noticed the Adidas shoes that Gonzalo owned while visiting his home and was over excited. This scene made it very clear that items like a pair of shoes were a luxury never experienced by Pedro. When Gonzalo accepted the ride home from Pedro in the first part of the movie, he was unaccepted by Pedro’s family. He was called a “snob” along with other names dividing their social classes.

In my opinion, the main focus of this movie is the moral test that these children endure during a time in Chile when the government is in an uproar. Their friendship ultimately becomes impossible to bridge. During the uproar in the church when the parents were disputing the priest’s decision to accept the “poor” kids into the school, one mother made the comment “you cannot mix apples and pears.” This comment makes it very clear that these “upper class” citizens feel that are above families like Pedro’s. Both families should value each other as equal citizens of the country, but unfortunately that is not the case.

Under the Same Moon Blog Discussion

          Under the Same Moon was a very touching film and very relevent to the topic of cultural diversity. It seemed as though Rosario had a few different reasons for leaving Carliots in his grandmothers care as she left for the states. One could quickly assume that she appeared to want to make a better life for only herself, but after finishing the movie, and seeing how quickly she was willing to return when she felt that Carlitos needed her, it was obvious that she was trying to make a better life for both of them.
          I believe that the decision was a very difficult one for Rosario to make. She made the decision with the best interest of her family in mind. It was obvious that this was very hard for her to do. She was going to marry a man simply to gain citizenship for her and Carlitos. She thought of Carlitos in almost every scene and it seemed to be very upsetting for her even years later. When she called him on the pay phone in the beginning of the movie, she became very emotional when it was clear to her how much Carlitos missed her.
          Carlitos had to grow up very fast living away from his mother. He was left to take care of his sick grandmother and raise himself. He had to work at a young age and kind of be the "man" of the family. Rosario also had problems living so far away from her son. Like any mother who loves their child, she missed him deeply and lived with that decision to leave him every day. She spoke several times of wanting to go home to be with him.
          I do believe that a mother in the United States would make the same decision to better the life of their child. It is kind of the same context as giving a child up for adoption. It takes a very un-selfish person to make such a kind hearted decision to better the life of a child in the means of giving them up. I personally do not know how it would feel to be away from my child for years, or a lifetime, but I could only imagine that I too would have that decision on my mind every day.