Like Water for Chocolate

Like Water for Chocolate was a film about romanticism. It is difficult to discuss only one aspect of the film because it is multifaceted. The film takes place in Mexico, during the Mexican revolution.

This film describes when Pedro and Tita fall in love as children. Tita is the youngest girl of Mother Elena. Tradition stated that the youngest girl is never to marry. She is to care for her mother until she dies. When Pedro comes of age, he and his father ask Elena for Tita's hand in marriage, but the request is refused. Elena offers her oldest daughter, Rosaura, to Pedro. Pedro accepts the offer to marry Rosaura knowing this would be the only way he could be close to his true love, Tita.

Elena is an emotional harsh, cold woman and mother. She almost never shows any gentle emotion with her children. Tears were not allowed in her house. She was exceptionally harsh to Tita. Elena demanded no tears from Tita at her sister's wedding. As punishment Tita was to prepare the wedding banquet. After eating the wedding cake, made under a magic spell of intoxication, the guest were overcome with yearning for the their true love. Pedro used this spell to refuse to have sexual relations with his new wife until the "intoxication" wore off. He finally sleeps with his wife and prays to God that is was only for reproducing.

As the film progresses, Tita and Pedro find other forms of communication to express the forbidden love. Pedro brings roses to Tita on the year anniversary of her becoming chef. Tita is order by her mother to throw the roses out. Instead Tita prepares a meal of quail in rose sauce. The rose sauce is made with the purest true love and when eaten at dinner, everyone is overtaken by an incredible passion.

Pedro and Rosaura have a son together but Rosaura is not able to feed him. Tita secretly nurses him and cares for the child as if he were her own. Tita's mother is always on careful watch of Tita and Pedro. She suspects that they are involved and sends Pedro, Rosaura and the baby away to live with family in Texas. The child later dies because he would not eat. Tita blames her mother for the death of the child and for the first time in her life Tita stands up to her controlling mother once again breaking tradition. Tita retreats into herself as she mourns the love for Pedro and the death of the child. This is when Dr. Brown takes Tita with him and cares for her. He is gentle and kind and only cares for what is best for Tita.

Dr. Brown comes from a more modern world. He explains a story that his native American grandmother had told him as a child. "Each of us is born with a book of matches inside us but we can not strike the matched all by ourselves, we need oxygen and a candle to help. The oxygen being the breath of a person's love and the candle being a whatever triggers the candle to ignite; food, music, a caress, a word or sound." The warning came when Br. Brown explained that all the internal matches could not be ignited all at once or the extreme emotion could cause the person to return to the place in which the emotion came from originally.

Dr. Brown falls in love with Tita and the two become involved. Tita is torn between the forbidden love for Pedro and the peace and safety she feels for Dr. Brown. The film unfolds, Pedro and Rosaura have another child. A daughter, Esperanza and Rosaura intended to carry on the family tradition of the youngest girl not marrying and caring for her mother until she dies. Tita is angry at this. She states, "I am boiling mad". "This tradition stops with me".

Tita refuses to marry Dr. Brown and Rosaura dies of a digestive disorder. 20 years later at Esperanza's wedding Pedro professes his love for Tita again. The final scene ends with Pedro carrying Tita to a candle lit barn. The two make love and the emotion of Pedro's matches being lit all at the same time causes his death. Tita is devastated by the death of her love, Pedro. She eats a book of matches and dies in the arms of Pedro while the intense emotion causes the barn to burn to the ground. Thus the two lovers were joined in death.

Magic realism was apparent in this film in that Pedro and Tita had a forbidden love from the beginning. They both wanted what could never be. Tita had stated in the film that she was more desirable because she was something that could not be touched. If the two had been able to break tradition and be together as lovers from the beginning, then the emotions and passions of that which is forbidden couldn't have come into play.

Diarios de Motocicleta / Motorcycle Diaries

Wow, what a powerful, compassionate film this is! This film describes the journey of two, well to do, Argenentian young men traveling through South America. Ernesto Guevara, 23 years old and his friend Alberto Granado, 30 years old, traveled from Buenos Aires to Venezuela on an old broken down motorcycle. They stated that they were traveling for "the sake" of traveling.

Alberto was a reckless, carefree womanized with a foul mouth. He used his "silver tongued" ways to get the two food, shelter and women. He was close to his friend. He cared for him when Guevara experienced asthma attacks.

Guevara was a young man from a wealthy family. He came from a close family. This could be seen by the goodbyes that were shown on the day of his departure for his journey. Guevara wrote to his mother on a regular basis. His words were full of compassion and realism.

I believe these two just wanted to travel across South America and have fun, like most young people would. But that was not Guevara's nature. From the beginning of the film his eyes showed how much passion he felt for life, people, and the land itself. As he began to travel and feel the strains of hunger and never knowing where he would sleep, he also began to view what the Spanish overtaking was doing to the people.

There were several scenes that I feel helped or began to shape his future as a leader. First, Guevara was well educated and came from a loving and supportive family. He probably never needed for much as a child. As he was traveling and using the fact that he was a doctor to obtain food and shelter from the people, he was asked to help an old woman who was ill. The pain that he felt when he knew there was nothing that he could do for the woman was overwhelming. His eyes could not hide the emotion. The words again were expressed to his mother in the letters he wrote. Another defining moment in the film was when he and Roberto were traveling on foot and they met an older couple, also traveling on foot. As the night progressed they began talking to each other. The man and wife explained they were traveling to find work. They had been put off of there own land and threatened imprisonment for being communist. The couple had left their child with family to protect him from the travel. This is where Guevara felt ashamed that he was traveling "for the sake of traveling", when others were traveling for survival. He wrote in his diary, "This was the coldest night of my life." What a powerful enlightenment he felt at this time in his life. I had to keep reminding myself that Guevara was only 23 years old.

Throughout the film Alberto tried to manipulate Guevara out of money that Guevara had gotten from his girlfriend. Guevara had promised his girlfriend that he would buy her panties when he arrived in America. The two traveler had experienced hunger, no shelter, and ill health, none of which could separate him from the money or the promise that he had made. At a later scene in the film Guevara admitted that he had given this most valued money to the couple. Again he was a passionate man for the people and their sufferings.

Guevara and Alberto spent three weeks in Peru with the people suffering with leprosy. The healthy, physicians, nurses and nuns lived on one side of the Amazon and the ill lived on the other. Guevara was negatively impacted that the heathy and ill were separated when it was said that the illness was not contagious. His passion for the people shone through once more on his birthday. A celebration was prepared for him and he made a toast that he wanted the people to be one. He was overjoyed at the outpouring of love the people of Peru bestowed upon him. But Guevara was a man of all the people, so putting his own illness aside, he swam across the Amazon to celebrate with all the people, not only the healthy but also the indigenous.

Before this film I had never heard of Ernesto Guevara. I admit I have my own prejudices when I hear the words guerrillas and warfare. But I was touched by Guevara's young life and compassion he possessed for the under privileged people. As I read the assignment I was impressed that even, Felix Rodriguez, the man responsible for the death of Guevara stated that after talking (interrogating) to Guevara for an hour and a half, said "I no longer hated him. He faced death with courage and grace."

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

I probably would not have gone to the theater to see this film. This is not the kind of comedy I enjoy. It had it's humorous scenes but over all was not highly rated by me.

The film began with Pepa, an actress who is having an affair with a married man (Ivan), finding out that she is pregnant with his child. Pepa show an array of emotions toward Ivan. Although she only speaks to him face to face in the last scene of the film. Pepa conversations with Ivan were through the answering machine, she cussed at him stating she hated him, she checked the machine multiple times a day so she wouldn't miss his call. She threw the phone only to have it fixed in a few minutes. She accidentally set the bed on fire and calmly watched it burn. Unfortunately her reactions were probably "normal" for the situation. As a nurse, I was surprised that she could go to the pharmacy and purchase so many sleeping pills without a prescription. The action that wasn't "normal" was spiking the gazpacho with sleeping pills which was intended for Ivan.

In the mist of Pepa's predicament, her best friend Candela appeared with her own drama. I believe Candela to be an over dramatic women. She was very self involved. She had spent the weekend with a Shiite terrorist and felt the police were after her. She attempted to jump off the terrace of a penthouse apartment. I'm sure this was for attention, to have "all eyes on her".

Pepa had her apartment for rent and of all people, Ivan's son, Carlos and his girlfriend, Marisa show up to view Pepa's apartment. Marisa drinks some of the gazpacho and falls into a deep sleep. Meanwhile Carlos kisses Candela while his girlfriend is sleeping in the other room.

Ivan's mentally ill wife thinks Ivan and Pepa are going away on a trip when actually Ivan is taking newest mistress, who is none other than the wife's feminist lawyer. The movie was just too much. Most of the characters end up in Pepa's apartment. All of which have their own issues that are in one way or the other interlinked with each other. The film became absurd and so unbelievable that is wasn't funny.

All the women who were involved with Ivan knew about each other and didn't seem to blame Ivan. They blamed each other and the wife blamed her own son for Ivan's actions. This is where I believe American women to be different. I don't think American women would accept such unfaithfulness in a man. If the film had been made in the United States, the women probably would have been a little more aggressive with Ivan.

One additional note I have to offer is that Carlos was not raised by his father but he was exactly like him. Kissing one woman while his girlfriend was in the other room, makes one wonder how many other women there were.

Machuca

This film is in the setting of Santiago, Chili in 1973. It described a friendship between two young boys in the mist of a war situation. Gonzalo, the first boy to be introduced, comes from a rich family. He attends a prestigious school; St. Pactrick's School for Boys. The school is made up of many mean-spirited young boys who are "spoiled" and have the attitudes that they are better than other because of their social class.

Pedro Machuca is introduced when the school is attempting integrate two social classes. The rich and the poor. Pedro is a young boy that comes from a impoverish community. Pedro and Gonzalo meet when the two are forced to become classmates. Pedro's education is being paid for by the school. The other boys refers to this as Pedro "getting a free ride". Pedro is seated behind Gonzalo in the classroom. At first these two want nothing to do with each other. Gonzalo is bullied by the other classmates, one in particular. This boy and his friends try to bully Gonzalo into beating on Pedro. Gonzalo refuses and this is where their friendship begins.

I interpreted this film to show war through the eyes of young children. There was graffiti everywhere, demonstrations and riots in the streets were common place. I was humored when after a massive riot the newspaper heading read, "Life in Chili is normal."

St Pacticks School for Boys was run by a priest name Father McEnroe. Father McEnroe tried to bring the social classes together and teach each side respect. Each class disrespected each other in their own way.

Gonzalo and Pedro were able to see how "the other half" lives. As the two boys friendship strengthened, they felt safe enough to let the other one deeper into their lives. Pedro visited Gonzalo's home and was able to see the richness of this life. Pedro was amazed at what he saw, food was readily available, even a nanny to prepare it. Gonzalo's family living room was about the space of Pedros whole house. Gonzalo had plenty, plenty of everything; cloths, books and shoes. Pedro met Gonzalos family members. He was accepted but to a point. Gonzalo's sister's boyfriend taunted Pedro, I guess to show him his place. When Pedro told the boyfriend his named, the boyfriend's response was, "these people have weird names." The resentment of being treated different was seen in the eyes both young boys.

When Gonzalo visited Pedro's home he saw poverty probably for the first time in his life. It was here that Gonzalo saw Silvana again. She was a young girl, a little older than himself. She could be described as a rebel, participating in demonstrations and riots, where she sold flags, along with Pedro's family. She lived with Pedros famiy, in a small shanty. Her mother had left some time before for an unknown reason. Silvana referred to Gonzalo as a snob only because he came from a rich family.

Even though the boys came from very different social classes, they were similar in many ways. They were young boys wanting to have fun like any other. Both boys had family difficulties. Gonzalo's Mother, Maria Luisa, was a rich "snob" who was having an affair with an older man named Roberto. Gonzalo's father, Patricio, was obviously aware of the affair but did nothing about it. His parents fought and argued as the boys listened. Gonzalo went with his mother on several occasions when she visited Roberto. As the war outside continued, Gonzalo experienced his own personal war regarding his mothers actions.

Pedro had his own family issues. Silvana's father was a bitter man. He describe to Pedro what his life would always be and where Gonzalo life would take him. He spoke of how Pedro would never be anything more than a man "cleaning toilets", and how Gonzalo would go on to run his father's company.

The boys tried to be friends but as the war, demonstrations, and riots escalated , families were showing more stress. The stress and confusion was felt by everyone. Gonzalo showed his rich social class in two different instances. First, in the classroom when Gonzalo took Pedro's test and answered the questions for his friend. When the tests were returned Pedro received a 4, while Gonzalo received a 7. I believe Gonzalo was trying to help Pedro but subconsciously he felt he was better. The worst part was that Pedro felt his friend's true feelings. Second, when the boys and Silvana were arguing, Gonzalo called Silvana and Pedro a racist name. Pedro felt the hate that came from Gonzalo. There friendship was never the same.

As the film came to the ending, Gonzalo went one last time to Pedro's community. The military guards were throwing people out of there homes, beating them, and burning their possessions and accusing the of being Communist. Silvana was frantic, trying to fight the military while they beat her father. She was accidentally shot and killed during the struggle. Pedro and Gonzalo witnessed it all. She was a friend to both boys. Gonzalo screamed to the militay guard that he didn't live in that area. He was identified by the shoes he wore, a symbal of his social class, and was let go. Pedro also witness this as his friend ran in fear and he had to stay in his own social class. The massive feeling that had to be going through both of the young boys were probably the same; guilt, shame, fear, resentment, loneliness...

This was a thought provoking film based on social class and political issues. It made me evaluate an array of feelings. I was saddened by the fact that in reality these two boys could not be friends. Society wouldn't allow it. In my opinion, the entire war was based on that one fact.