El Viaje de Carol

Wow! What a culture shock to watch a movie you don't understand. I understood a few words just from high school spanish but had no idea what was being said. It was hard to not know but at the same time it made you pay closer attention to gestures and facial expressions. I found this a great learning experience.

Now about Carol. I don't really feel that she had to much of an adjustment to moving to Spain. I feel that Carol fit in much better with the boys then the girls and almost looked uncomfortable when wearing dresses. She also had an adjustment with religion. I don't know what her religion was before Spain but she looked uncomfortable in the church. I thought that Carol did a very good job adjusting to a new home. One thing that she did seem good at was speaking her mind. She was not afraid to talk to adults. She was also not rigid and respectful like her other peers. I felt bad for Carol in the fact that she lost her mother and at the same time was worried about her father and his safety. She was not sure if her father would ever come home. Carol was very loving and didn't want to worry her father by finding out about his mother's death.

Carol and Tomiche just broke my heart. It was such an innocent love and one in which is easy to relate too. I can remember my first crush and my first kiss. Carol was able to reach out to Tomiche and touch his short life. It melted my heart with their first kiss. You can see that innocent look in their eyes when they look at each other. And each time she kissed him he would leave and look back at her and smile. He was willing to risk his life to try to help save her father's life. In the end she was forced to see her love lose his life right in front of her eyes. I felt so horrible for her. My first crush and one of my best friends died right after we graduated from high school. It broke my heart. I couldn't imagine watching it.

I wish I knew exactly what was being said, but at the same time I like to make up my own story. It will be on my list to watch in subtitles and hopefully I won't be disappointed.

Volver

Wow! What a film. I really enjoyed this film and was excited that I got to screen it. These women in this film were amazing. It was awesome to finally see the women as strong and resilient. First is Raimunda. She was such a hard working women who cared a lot about her family. She busted her butt to provide for her family while her husband was a slacker. She had been treated pretty badly as a child and became pregnant with her own father's child. She embraced this and raised Paula to be a wonderful young women. Paula! You go girl! Her step father had tried to rape her and she would not stand for it. Instead she protected herself and in the end killed Paco. When Raimunda found out she took the blame for the situation and got rid of the body so her daughter would never have to face the police. She did a great job at lying to everyone and making sure they all thought that he had just left her.

Mom was awesome. When she found out what had happened to her daughter she took the bull by the horns and made sure that she got rid of him! She spent the time after that taking care of aunt Paula until she died. Sole was also a strong women. Instead of wasting her time feeling sorry for herself because her husband had left, she opened her own salon in her house and made a good life.

I was so happy to see in the end that although these women had faced such tragedies in life they were able to mustard up the strength and go on with life. They in the end embraced each other and were able to become even stronger. I was so glad to see them all happy at the end.

Superstitions in this film seemed normal. The whole death process seemed more like a normal part of life and something that must be embraced then a sad thing. The women would buy their burial plots and take care of them for the rest of their lives. This kind of creeps me out. I don't want to go to the cemetery and see my name on a tombstone. Also, the village seemed to embrace Irene as a ghost and did not seemed frightened by it. Augustina even wanted Raimunda to talk to the ghost and find out about her mother. Death is normally a scary process but seemed normal in this culture.

Finally a film I enjoyed. First one since Motorcycle Diaries!

Guantanemera

We can see many aspects of Hispanic culture in this movie. First, we see music. Music starts out the movie and ends it. Also we see the macho aspect take place again. Adolfo from the beginning is not easy to like. He basically runs Gina's life. She is scared to wear certain things because she knows that her husband won't approve. She also doesn't do things that she enjoys such as smoking cigarretes because Adolfo doesn't like her to do that. Then we see him insult her when she is wearing that dress and to eventually beat her. We also see the theme of love. Candido and Yoyito are reunited after many years and still love each other. It was a love that was still burning after 50 years. When Yoyito dies we see a part of Candido die.

The aspects we see that are particular to Cuba are the tea, rum and coffee. It is everywhere. Also we see people selling things on the side of the road and it being transported to other areas of the country knowing someone will buy it. We see the funeral that has to take place in the area that the person was born even if they didn't live there. Along the way we get to see the mode of transportation where people hop onto an empty truck to be transported. We also see how run down the country looks and how many things are rationed.

I really did not like this movie. First, it really bored me. It was so slow moving. Again, I am upset by the macho aspect and how these women are submissive to their men. We see another man beating on his wife. This really bothers me. I was a victim of domestic violence and to see it portrayed as being normal really bothers me. I just want to shake these ladies. I also think that Gina looks like an idiot. She leaves on stupid man for another! Oh well another movie down!

The Official Story

What started out as such a hopeful movie turned so dark. We see in the beginning the perfect family. A mother and father who could not have a child of their own but chose to adopt a beautiful little girl. To give her a better life. We see a prosperous family with such a bright future. Then it all goes down hill from there. Alicia meets up with old friends and runs into Ana. Being such good childhood friends Ana decides to tell Alicia what had happened to her and what was happening to innocent women and their children. Only then do we see Alicia question her perfect family. She becomes hopeful that she can figure out Gaby's past and make it make sense. Only to quickly become hopeless when she starts to realize that Roberto had a hand in hurting these innocent women. She finds a woman who thinks she may be Gaby's grandmother and she is hopeful that she can find out her daughter's past. When introducing Sara to Roberto she quickly finds out that her husband is not the man that she thought he was. The whole time Roberto is hopeful that Alicia wouldn't find out the truth. When Alicia's world comes crashing down around her she is forced to make a decision. A decision that we will never know. She is hopeless in the end with a child that was taken from her mother, a husband who has now abused her, and a grandmother who wants to be a part of Gaby's life. We see a hopeful movie turn to hopelessness. Will Roberto lose everything? Will Alicia take her daughter and live a good life? Will Sara ever get the chance to meet Gaby? We will never know.

I did enjoy this movie. I was hoping for a blurb at the end that would tell me an update but since that didn't happen I can only hope for the best for Gaby, Alicia, and Sara. I could care less what happens to Robert.