El Viaje de Carol

This film was not so great to watch with out subtitles for me. It felt very foreign. I did enjoy tyring to figure out what was going on. But after reading other blogs I found that I totally didn't have a clue! What I saw just by watching was that a young Spanish-American girl that was with her mother traveling to her mothers hometown. Carol seemed out of place at first. She was fluent in her mother's language. She is a smart girl to be bilingual. Like with all the film's we have viewed there was some sort of war going on. I could tell that America had to be involved because Carol's dad was an American military man. Their was something bad written on her grandfathers house that was meant for Carol. She seemed to be very American to me because of her independace and tomboy attitude and dress. My favorite part of the film was when her and the boy get into a fight. Carol wins and gets her hat back. I knew that the two of them would end up in love. Their relationship grew and they became so close. I could not belive that this girl ended up loosing her mother and her first love. It was refreshing to see the father and granfather have good strong roles in Carol's life. They could be real men, not macho men. They were both there for her. I'm not sure if Carol struggled with a new culture. I think that she strugled with racism against her because she was half American. All over the world children have to grow up to fast and suffer because of adults.

Volver

Volver means "to return". This is a good title for this film. I thought this film was amazing. The actors were perfect for this film. This film has been my favorite. I never felt board with it and it flowed well. This whole film was a tribute to women and their resilience in the face of outrageous tribulations.
I was touched by these Hispanic women and the way they portrayed their culture. I saw love, strength, loyalty, friendship,endurance, and most of all family resilience. Again men were macho and the women were stronger and survivors. In my mind women are the stronger of the sexes. But that's a whole different subject! One of the cultural aspects shown was all the kissing and hugs they gave to each other. We as humans need touch and I love this part of the Hispanic culture. We should all feel love and respect.
Superstitions shown were beliefs that the winds made people crazy and brought evil. Another was they believed in ghost. That souls came back to correct mistakes and finish unfinished business. The culture would clean and polish their loved ones headstones out of respect. Some even cleaned their own that they have already bought. The graves are considered their second home. They are proud people.
The film starts out with women cleaning headstones. The next scene these women go to visit their aunt Paula. Raimunda here daughter Paula, and her sister Sole. Aunt Paula is old and confused. The women then go see their friend Augustine that looks after aunt Paula. I like Augustine. She is caring and down to earth. She is funny and smokes pot. She talks about her hippy mother. Raimunda and Pula return home to find that Paco lost his job. He looks at his daughter Paula like she is a piece of meat. Raimunda works three jobs at least to support the family. Raimunda is close to her daughter. After Raimunda returns home from work Paula is waiting for her. Paula accidentally killed Paco after he tried to rape her. He told her is was not wrong because he was not her real father. How sick he deserved to die. Raimunda being a strong protecting, loving mother cleanse up the mess and gets rid of the body. She tells her daughter that she is the one who killed Paco because she would not let her child be punished for something that was not her fault. How great the love of a mother and child!
As the film progresses each character's story is reviled and they are all intertwined together in some way. The bottom line ends up that Raimunda hated her mother for not noticing that her own father raped her and that she actually had a child that was her sister. She is a great woman to have this child and love her so much when her conception was a tragedy. Raimunda protected Paula.
Sole was a independent woman. Her own husband left her and she takes care of herself. After aunt Paula died we realize that their mother Irene is alive. She is found in Sole's trunk after the funeral. At first she thinks she is a ghost. Finally Raimunda finds out she is alive. I thought it was funny about Raimunda thinking she smelled her mother's farts. Raimunda finds out that her mother killed her father after she learned what her husband did to her. Also that he was having an affair with Augustine's mother and she was killed to. I think that Raimunda wanted to have her mother back in her life. I think that she really missed her. I think that before she was raped they probably had a wonderful mother/daughter bond. Irene longed to have her daughters love again. I thought it was good that Irene ended up taking care of Augustine. She knew Augustine was a good person and I think she was sorry that she killed her mother. But she did what she had to out of hurt and rage. Augustine was superstitious and welcomed Irene's "ghost" to care for her. I don't know how Raimunda carried all this baggage and still had all this love to give.
Again we see another film were women have to over come adversity. I am overwhelmed my the strength and love that women have. Another great film with life lessons. There is nothing that I wouldn't do for my children.

Guantanamera

The film started out with the song Guantanamera "girl from Guantanamo" a best known Cuban song. So I would have to say that music is a big part of the culture and music was played all through the film. Again family seems to be important. Yoyita visits her niece Gina. They have lunch and drink. While they are talking Yoyita offers Gina to smoke with her. Gina tells her Adolfo doesn't like me to smoke. But Gina does anyway. When the two of them are out shopping Gina sees a dress she likes. Yoyita tells her to buy it. Gina says Adolfo doesn't like low cut dresses and so she doesn't buy it. Yoyita asks about a man named Candido that she was in love with as a young girl. Yoyita ends up meeting up with Candido. As they reminisce and you see that they still have feelings for each other Yoyita ends up dying. This part was heartbreaking. I wanted to see the old love birds get another chance. As Gina's husband Adolfo is working we see how the warm climate culture communicate together. Adolfo starts talking and he calls them all friends and tries to be warm and friendly. He tries to keep the peace. Adolfo is an undertaker and he has political ambitions. I think that the film again shows masochism in so many ways during the film. Gina use to teach and now she wants to work again but Adolfo won't allow her to.
Now Adolfo, Gina, and Candido take Yoyita's body to Havana. On their journey you see more of Adolfo's dominate behavior. He has to be in control. He is on a mission to make more of himself through his work. He wants to be someone. Tony is a driver that works for Adolfo. As Tony drives more culture comes out. He plays the radio along the way. He buys and sells things off the street during the journey like bananas and garlic. When they stop places they have coffee, rum, tea, and cigars. Adolfo keeps getting up set as things happen out of his control. He is on a tight schedule and unexpected things keep happening.
During the journey Gina keeps crossing paths with Mariano. He was a student of hers. He had written her a love note then they never saw each other again until now. Mariano has been a playboy and he has trouble with women because he has so many. He is a truck driver who has a woman at each stop. His partner Ramon ends up getting hit with things that these women throw at Mariano. Which is funny during the film. Candido speaks to Gina on the journey telling her that he sees her desire to live. He knows she is not happy. He sees the way that Gina and Mariano look at each other when they cross paths. While Ramon and Mariano drive they pick up hitch hikers along the way. This is another culture aspect we see.
By the end of the film Adolfo hit Gina for wearing the dress she ends up buying. He calls her a whore. Gina ends up with Mariano. Candido dies when he tries to say goodbye to Yoyita's but it wasn't her the caskets got switched.
I thought this film was funny at times. I thought it did show a lot of culture. But it seemed to be drawn out a little to long. Candido said loneliness is the worst sort of hungry. I think that meant if we are with the wrong person we will always be lonely and never full filled.

The Official Story

The official Story What a tragedy! What is even worse is that this is real history. This film from Argentina represents what was called the dirty war that occurred in the 1970s. I had no ideal what to expect at the beginning of the film. Alicia was a high school history teacher. Her husband Roberto was some type of business man. They appeared to be somewhat well off. Gaby their adopted daughter is sweet, beautiful, and smart. It amazes me how innocent children are. Gaby turns 5 yrs. old shortly into the film. Gaby appears to have loving and doting parents. While Robert and Alicia were at dinner with friends I realized that Robert was probably corrupt. When Alicia's devoted friend Ana came to dinner I could tell that Robert didn't like her. Alicia and Ana didn't see each other for 7 yrs. While they reminisced they seemed like school girls. But then things got serious. Ana started telling Alicia things that had happened to her because of living with her lover Pedro who was a so called subversive. Even though she had not been with him for years prior to her being tortured. She was captured for 36 days. She tells Alicia the horrible things that were done to her and to other women. Ana stated at times she wasn't sure if she was screaming or if it was some one else. Alica asked her how she could tell her these things. I guess that's what it means to be a devoted friend. Then as Alicia cleaned up a drink fell over and spilled on to a picture of Gaby. That seamed to start what i though was meant to be hopeless. But as the film goes on Alicia should we stay wakes up and smells the coffee. After Ana's story and the boys in her history class telling their own views on history she realises that her life is not what it appears to have possible been. I think up until this point she was extremely naive. So when Alicia starts her own investigation about Gaby's biological parents I find this hopefull. Alicia wants to know the truth. Alicia goes to great lengths to find answers. Alicia ended up being a strong woman by the end of the film. Roberto on the other hand ended up being weak and his world was crumbling around him. I saw him as hopeless. He was fully aware of the wrong doings. He was a horrible man to abuse Alicia at the end of the film. I can only hope that she left him. Gaby was the hopefull part and she does have the light at the end of the tunnel. She has Alicia and possible a grandmother who will love her to. If Roberto stays in her life Gaby can give him hope to. Maybe he would be able to change his ways. I didn't like the way the film ended. I wanted to know who would go get Gaby. I didn't want her to feel like Alicia waiting for her parents.