Y Tu Mama Tambien

so we finally watched our last film for this class"Y Tu Mama Tambien".i do not believe anyone walked away that Tuesday with no emotions about it.
I thought it was a good film, it gave a good and DETAILED picture/pictures about teenage wild life. i do not necessarily believe that it was a good film to learn Hispanic culture from, if anything, teenagers are the same everywhere, maybe in Mexico they are a little bit wilder?")i heard some opinions after the class and "porn with the plot" stayed in my mind. We live in American society, where mostly it is not okay to express your feelings about sexuality in general, and normally people are not comfortable with the topic.
as you remember, we did not have the chance to finish the film, but if a i had to guess this is the ending: the young woman's medical prognosis that the doctor gave in the beginning of the movie was that she is dying of cancer. Like she said on the phone while talking to her husband, she would have left him anyway, but him admitting of cheating made it so much easier. As far as the young teenage boys go, i believe she might have been their "angel" who opened up their eyes and showed them the road to each other(double meaning). Who knows, maybe if she had never agreed to go on that beach trip, the two boys would have never discovered themselves and have been searching for something all their lives, probably not even knowing what they are searching for.
Overall i was shocked that we watched this film during a Hispanic class and more shocked that UC professors sat around while making the curriculum and out of all the films about Hispanic culture came up with this film.who says these professors are not wicked?:)))))))

I enjoyed this experience of watching a film in a foreign language and trying to figure out what was going on. I was very surprised when I realized that I understood pretty much everything, minus few conversational details. It was an amazing revelation to me that it really does not matter which language you speak, feelings and human behavior are the same everywhere you go.
The main character Carol was a very strong and observant teenage girl. I speak from my own experience when I say that adjusting to a new culture and a new country is a difficult task for anyone. But to do this in your teenage years I believe is especially difficult. Carol was not received in the new society as a welcome member due to her connection to America. At the time of her arrival to Spain, the country was transforming through socialism and Carol coming from America was not welcome. She was very quiet and observant of the changes and moods around her. There was a lot going on in her head, but not much expressed, just observed. I believe that this demeanor helped her to integrate herself into the Spanish society. She made some friends and the childish ways of them growing up together was another way of her integrating. Also the unconditional love from her grandpa was a strong wall she knew she could lean on any time. We see that in the episode when her farther sneaks into the country to see Carol.
Another great film!

I loved this film! What a wonderful tribute to women and their power through love and strength!
The opening scene is amazing. The cemetery is filled with the women cleaning the head stones of mostly dead family men, because as the women explained, they outlive the men. This scene has a double meaning. First meaning is that sure, women outlive their men, that is just a fact. The other meaning is deeper: no matter what men do to women, they have the strength and power to survive and outlive the tragic life events. At the end if the women stick together their power is unstoppable. The rest of the film following the cemetery scene is a tribute to the message revealed at the beginning. All the women in this film are so close to each. You, as the viewer almost feel privileged to be invited to take a peek at their world and their stories. I do believe that the strong connection between these women comes as a part of Hispanic culture. The women lived through some tragic and chaotic events in their lives: father raping a daughter and getting her pregnant; tragic loss of parents; cancer; old age and inability to take care of yourself.
As night comes after a day, the same way superstition follows Hispanic culture. Good example of that was the East wind that would make people act crazy. I believe that the wind was used as an excuse of irrational and shocking things people do, but we as humans, do not want to always believe that we are capable of that. Another superstition used in this film was that dead people souls come back to earth to finish what was left unfinished or to correct the mistakes they made while living. In this case Raimunda’s mother was thought to come back from the dead. As it appeared she was never dead just hiding and letting everybody think that she was dead. She did have some things to correct in her life like not knowing or noticing that Raimunda was being molested by her own farther. She wanted Raimunda’s forgiveness. In the end, the women figured it all out and once again kept on being strong and together.

I really enjoyed this film. It was funny, relaxing and had some mystery in it (the little girl throughout the film kept reappearing for no logical reason just to realize that she is the death). I am not very familiar with the Cuban culture but this is what I picked up:
- Russian made cars. One I could remember was “Volga”. Having experienced Soviet Union regime, you have to understand that this car “Volga” was kind of an equivalent to “ Mercedes” in the United States. Keeping in mind the means of how people are traveling in Cuba, having this luxurious car was a big deal for the family in this film. They were definitely well to do people.
- I noticed the three choices of refreshments: tea, coffee or rum( I do not know why people even have to ask, the choice is obvious…J). But mostly I liked the fact that if you decline the offer the person offering then decides what you would want and you are having it anyway. It was almost a natural part of hosting. I like these people!
- I enjoyed the musical part of everyday life. There was one song/melody that lasted the entire film. The word came as the events were unfolding. It shows that people are in tune with their romantic side and I believe the equivalent of that music would be the country music style in the United States. Both kind of music sing about the everyday life in a casual manner.
- Last but not least were bananas. A lot of bananas. It seemed to be a very important part of the Cuban culture.

What a great and heart touching film! I did not have any words to describe my emotions right after watching the movie, I felt confused, full of conflicting feelings towards the characters. On the way home after the class I did not even turn on the radio in my car and do no remember how I even got home, I was in a daze. After I got over the initial shock of the domestic violence scene, I started to analyze the film. Still, that last scene when military “macho” husband kept slamming wife’s head into the wall was just horrific, I was having difficult time concentrating on remembering anything else in the movie. It’s amazing how a film can evoke so many strong emotions! Bravo to the director of this film, and yes, I applaud the Oscar.
Despite many emotions that one would have after this film, two main ones emerge: hope and hopelessness. Hope for a better and more righteous future and hopelessness for the same righteous future. Gabby would eventually find out the true past of her parents, would be able to live with her real grandmother. But at the same time, the present family is being destroyed; the same family that she already fell in love with, not knowing anything better or anything more real. It is horrifying to even think that there were many families just like Gabby’s, the ones that were torn apart and divided to the military power holding families. I wonder whether a child like Gabby in this film would have a happy future? It seems that she would be full of so many mixed emotions and at the same time not be old enough to even understand it all. Gabby had the tragic memory carved in her and it came out on the day of her birthday, when her cousins came in her room with toy guns playing invasion. Except in her mind that was an echo of her past.
Can I ask for a fun film next time? Another burning shower scene will do:)

Like Water for Chocolate

What a movie! I will state that this might me a classic fairy tale that I could be watching over and over again in the future. I do not know where even to begin talking about this movie, it is so congested with tradition, feelings, life lessons and humor. It definitely reminded me of one of the fairy tale that I used to read when I was a little girl. I have never heard of Magic Realism before, but glad to discover this genre of art and looking forward watching many more films in this style.
There was a definite message to this film – believe in true love. The touch of Magic Realism in this love story gives you hope and courage to stay strong in your beliefs, in Tita’s case: her dream eventually came true. I can easily see how this art form started: people want to believe in miracles to help them get through every day living, to create hope so they can get through tough situations. In Tita’s case, her life at home was miserable with her mother being so devilishly cruel and unfair, so the opposite of this repressed life was her dream world and reality merger that we saw in the film.
A great example of Magic realism in traditions was food. We all heard the stories of somebody’s (usually they already dead, so they would not compromise your story) mouth melting and legendary cooking. Sometimes if we really love that person we might embellish the story just so we can really prove the talent of the cook. So yes, the food magic powers in the film might have been also embellished, but we got the message: Tita was a wonderful and magical cook. The person telling us that story expressed her love for Tita using magic realism power.
All of the characters descriptions in the film were portrayed via magic realism. Their strongest qualities were super magnified to create the wonderful and unbelievably shocking world. Tita’s mother was very demanding and hateful and like all the evil characters in the fairy tales, she received the very awful death. Gertudis was the wild one of the sisters and to prove that, she gets kidnapped naked by an outlaw on the horse. Could you argue the wild aspect after this scene? And finally Tita – humble girl who was being mistreated by her repressing mother falls in love. Not just simple kind of love, but truly one in a lifetime love.
Magic Realism I am so glad you found me!

Diarios de Motocicleta

Ernesto Guevara took the greatest trip of his lifetime. What started as a young and careless adventure turned into the most important life lessons that led Che to become one of the greatest leaders in humanity history.

I believe every moment during the trip acted as a building block towards the sensitive, caring and passionate leader that Ernesto had become. The lessons started with his family. During the “goodbye” scene we witness his family’s love and support in any decision Ernesto comes up with. Not every parent would wish happy times to his child who just decided to take a break from the med school to travel through entire continent of South America with no good plan for shelter or money. The love that poured out of Che’s family was selfless. The fact that two men were traveling by the means of “the mighty one” shows how much faith Ernesto had to have in simple things; logic would have never let these two fellows too far. Che learned to be humble and content having to look for shelter and place to sleep and the barn floor turned out to be just fine. When looking into the sick woman’s eyes Ernesto learned compassion and honesty to tell people the truth about their illness. Che took time to meet people and experience their cultures, especially when he was visiting Peru. That experience brought him closer to the nature and it’s basic laws, where people are equal to each other despite their race color or social stance. We see how Che transforms right in front of our eyes while caring for the sick people, how he ignores the camp rules and interacts with his patients as if they were part of his own family.

I believe that this trip took Ernesto Guevara back to the basics of humanity and in his own words “something happened during the trip”.

Women on the verge of nervous breakdown

I really enjoyed last Tuesday’s movie “Women on the verge of nervous breakdown”. I thought that the topic – Spanish women and their character was a genius topic for a comedy! I do believe that Spanish women are little bit different that any other culture women because of their feisty and outspoken temperament. We saw this film through these women’s eyes and their feeling towards the world, especially men, were quite overreacted, but for once a man watching this film can experience what chaotic messes go on in our heads every single day…what a relief! Now I just have to trick my husband into watching this movie…
I don’t think we would find women in America today acting the same as in this film. First of all this film is a comedy, so we all know that pretty much everything is exaggerated. But I believe American women feel freer to live their lives by themselves and do not try to hold on to the “macho” men who are cheating on them. I believe media and its messages play a grand role is person’s opinions and outlook on life and today’s media is encouraging independence and freedom from anyone and anything. But at the same time it is difficult to make a comparison since this film is not current. So if we go back to the same times and make a comparison, maybe there would not be too many differences in women’s behaviors.
I do not know many Spanish women, so it would be difficult to point out any differences between Spanish Europe and Spanish America women and try to be correct. But in my opinion, Spanish American women are more humble and less outspoken due to the mixture of social classes in their continent. Spanish European women are more even as far as social classes and therefore probably are more outspoken.

The film "Machuca" left me with deep sadness and shock. Shock because of how awful we as people can be to each other and sadness - this is part of our history and it will stay with us forever (like a large bleeding ulcer...this one for you fellow nurses:)). But one thing that I really liked in the movie was the friendship that Pedro and Gonzalos shared. Despite all the differences between them, they had a deep and pure connection, the connection that can only exist in purest of the times - their childhood. When the boys visit each other houses they are not disgusted or impressed with each other, they just take it in as just some differences between their lives with no regrets or comparisons. I believe that only as children we are able to see people and their intentions, not people and their surroundings where your evil train of thought starts..." does it mean he/she is better that me?" Pedro and Gonzales did not compare themselves; they just enjoyed each other's company despite their two different backgrounds. These backgrounds were quite different; they were polar opposite of each other. There was no middle class, just the rich and the poor, wiping out all the hope for these two backgrounds ever coming together to live in peace and harmony.
The message I was reminded about watching this film is that people exist as either leaders or followers. Nothing wrong with being either one, since to make this world balanced we need both. But we need to be careful who we let to be our leaders, since not everybody has good intentions and not everybody views the meaning of word " harmony" the same. When General Augusto Pinochet took over Chile, his military ruling ripped Pedro and Gonzalo's friendship apart, not leaving any hope of it ever reuniting just like the worlds of rich and poor people were pushed apart even further forgetting that they live in the same country.
I liked this movie, because it is a history piece reminding about our past. They say " time is the best teacher", so I have hope that the ones that are leaders will learn something for the future.

Under the same moon

Rosario Reyes left her son Carlitos in a search for a better life she wanted to provide for her only love - her child. At that time it seemed like a good idea: her mother would be taking good care of Carlitos. She knew that Carlitos would be safe, warm and fed. No one could replace Rosario to Carlitos but her mom would provide the best replacement at that time. As every mother would, Rosario had big dreams and a bright future that she envisioned for her son. Putting her own dreams aside, she patiently dedicated herself to earn more money in the United States as an illegal immigrant. Pennies earned in the "dream country" would go a long way back at home in Mexico.

The financial life in Mexico is difficult. Most people do not have lots of money and instead of enjoying a care-free life like every person dreams to do, they are forced to work long hours with a back braking physical labor for just a little amount of money that feeds their families. So it's a struggle for survival, and you're probably considered to be lucky if you actually have a job in Mexico. No money - no jobs makes one viscous cycle. So the neighboring country with lots of opportunities seems like a good, even if risky, option that a lot of Mexicans , including Rosario, choose. Rosario's love for her son Carlitos was so strong that she put her life "on hold"and strived to better her child's life.
When Rosario left her son behind in Mexico, she left much more that just that. She left her son to grow up without a mother. During the 9th birthday party Carlitos surely wanted just one person to be with him - his mother. The boy was forced to grow up fast. He dealt with life in a more mature way than anyone would expect a 9 year old to do due to the fact that he had to be strong - no mother beside him and a very sick grandmother couldn't have provided him a strong "wall" to lean on when times were tough. Rosario was heartbroken while living in the United States. Sunday phone conversations were hurtful reminders about the consequences of her tough but brave decision. She had to stay strong physically and mentally for her son. Physically because she worked two jobs on every day basis; mentally - Carlitos was hanging on to every word he heard from his mother over the phone every Sunday. Rosario had to sound confident in order to keep Carlitos believing in their happy ending. She also dealt with as lot of heartache. She had no family beside her and most importantly she was missing out on the relationship with her son.

I do not believe a mother in the United States would have made the same choice as Rosario. The one and only reason - this country is full of opportunities and options for everyone living here. The difference starts at the question "how far are you willing to go?" In most cases American moms are able to be with their children, even having to work they are still able to at least tuck them in to bed at night. Like I mentioned above, the opportunities are often in this country, so if your current situation doesn't work - you are able to work it out, because you have options; but leaving this country to provide a better life for your child is never a difficult choice you have to make here.