Guantanamera

What strong aspects of Hispanic culture are represented vividly in this film? What are some of these aspects that you think characterize the Cuban culture? Please support your ideas and discussion with clear examples from the film

There were many aspects of Hispanic culture and specifically Cuban culture represented in this film. Many of which were music, food, drinks, family, religion, and politics.



The song Guantanamera is a Cuban "folk song". It tells the story of a man who loves a woman but loses her. In the film it tells the story of the journey from Guantanamo to Havana. "Guantanamera" means the woman from Guantanamo. In the chorus "Guantanamera, guajira, Guantanamera" guajira is Cuban slang for a female from the countryside. It is also a Cuban style of music, song or dance. Also throughout the film you would hear some good salsa music. I totally understood Candido, when he wanted the cab driver to turn the music off. Of course Adolfo showed his machismo when he turned to Candido and told him he wanted it on to hear the weather. But Candido was persistent that he didn't want to listen to music at that time, because he was mourning, and did not feel that it was a time to celebrate.

Food was seen throughout the film. It seems that coffee is the beverage of choice, because it was offered throughout the film. Both the cabdriver and Mariano use the Black Market to make extra money. As they travel across the island, they buy food such as bananas, garlic and turkeys to be resold at a higher price when they arrive in Havana.

When they reach Bayamo there was a tour guide telling the story of the city. This scene is a reference to contemporary Cuba.

"During the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries, Bayamo was the most important smuggling center on the island. In this way they made a mockery of restrictions and the rigid trade monolopy of the Spanish Crown which stifled economic growth. Illegal trade with the English, French and Dutch was practiced by all the locals including the administrative, military, and religious authorities. Their dealings with the Protestants, branded as heretics not only influenced economic growth, but also affected cultural and polictical life. Throught this channel, the doors were opened for books banned by the inquistion and the liberal and progressive ideas of the time. It was no coincidence that Bayamo was the first city to rise in arms against the colonial domination which was stifling the development of the country."

After Gina buys the dress that Adolfo despises her in, the story of Olofin is told. Olofin made men and women but did not make death. The men and women got too old and tired. Iku brings out rains and floods for 30 days and 30 nights and only children could climb the trees and go to higher ground. The Earth was then cleaned and more beautiful because of the end of immortality.

Family is very important in the Hispanic culture. Family ties were very apparent in the film. You saw this with Gina and Aunt Yoyita. Although Candidto was not officially family, he was very welcomed by Gina, and invited to travel with her and Adolfo to get Aunt Yoyita to her hometown of Havana where she could rest in peace. You saw throughout the film that families would get together at the funerals. I found it weird that they would have to have a ticket to get food at the funeral. Adolfo did not show that he was a "family man", but he did show that the culture of Cuban men being dominate over women.



The paths of Mariano's truck and Adolfo's troublesome car with Adolfo, Gina and Candido as passengers, keep crossing. Both background and foreground keep pointing to the shortages of everything in Cuba, where one-table "secret" restaurants spring up, where a fan-belt is a small treasure, where coupons are needed for many things, even in a cemetery's cantina, where the car's riders munch bananas from the subterranean economy as the radio spouts positive agricultural statistics.

I found this film to be very interesting, some things we have seen in other films like in Motorcycle diaries, people traveling to find work, food, etc., and in Like Water for Chocolate, the abusiveness of a man with a woman.





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La Historia Oficial

The film begins five years after Alicia, a high school history teacher and, Roberto, a wealthy businessman and lawyer with close ties to the military junta, had adopted a baby girl named Gaby.



Alicia starts wondering about the real parents of Gaby, a topic her husband has told her to forget as it was a condition of the adoption. Yet, he knows the story of his daughter's adoption. While hard to believe, Alicia, as other members of the Argentine middle class, are not aware of how much killing and suffering has gone on in the country, until her students begin to complain that the "government approved" History books given to them were written by the regime's "assassins".



After Ana, Alicia's long time friend, returns from her exile in Europe, Alicia begins to do some political and personal research on her own. Ana had been tortured by ultra-right paramilitary forces loyal to the brutal Argentine regime for having lived with a so-called subversive man.



Alicia learns the identity of Gaby's grandmother, Sara, who reveals the identity of the girl's disappeared parents. She finds out that her husband played a major role in the regime's repression and participated in intensive dealings with foreign business representatives. At a family dinner, Roberto has an intense political argument with his father and brother, where he supports the political point of view of the ruling conservative military, and his father and brother argue from the side of social justice.



The film suggests that Sara may not actually be Gaby's real grandmother, and briefly explores the fact that Gaby's true family may never be known. This combination of fact and emotion are meant to suggest the mood of hope and hopelessness in reaction to a war environment.

The film ends with a confrontation between Alicia and her husband. He wants her to forget about the past and look to the future. When Roberto is told that Gaby is not home, Alicia responds: "how does it feel not knowing where your child is?" Although she tells him that Gaby is at his mother's house, he becomes enraged and assaults her, but is interrupted by the telephone ringing. He answers it, and starts talking to his mother. Alicia gets her purse to leave, indicating that she no longer can live with him.



At the conclusion of the film we see Gaby sitting alone in a rocking chair singing El país de no me acuerdo, the same nursery song of doubt and fear that she sang at the beginning of the film, apparently condemned to relive Alicia’s life.

In spite of this seemingly tragic ending, there are hopeful signs pointing toward positive changes in the future.

1. The mothers’ insistent demonstrations and their push for change in the streets seem to foretell a greater political role for Latin American women in the future.



2. The fact that Alicia’s friend Ana is able to return to Argentina after being tortured and exiled can be interpreted as a civil triumph over military dictatorship.

3. The students’ rejection of the ‘official story,’ the government’s account of Argentina’s present as well as its past, looks toward an awakening among Hispanic youth regarding Latin America’s history and the possibility of making a better future based on its lessons.

4. Alicia’s quest for the truth can be interpreted as a hopeful desire to confront social reality and find positive solutions to existing problems.

Alicia, was orphaned at an early age when her parents were killed in a car accident. However, her grandparents, wanted to spare her the pain of knowing her parents’ fate and withheld the truth from her. This resulted in Alicia feeling abandoned, uncertain and alone (HOPELESSNESS). Throughout the film, Alicia seeks the truth about Gaby (HOPE), and the truth leads to the destruction of her marriage and puts Gaby’s own future in doubt. As it concludes, Alicia once again is alone and facing personal uncertainty.



Roberto's lower-class immigrant family was forced to flee Spain during the civil war, and, apart from Roberto, remains stuck in economic hardship. By the conclusion of the film, Roberto too is loosing everything, his job, his security and his family in a sort of inevitable decline to his original roots.



Roberto’s father and brother suffered a downward spiral. The father not only lost his own country, but also his oldest son. He has failed to instill in him his own sense of ethics (HOPELESSNESS). The relationship between the two is strained; they have not spoken for months before they meet for a family luncheon, which ends in argument and unpleasantness. The brother has lost his wife and business, women reject him, and, according to his father, he appears to have developed a love of alcohol. He has had to return home to live with his parents and raise his three sons.

Is there hope for Gaby? I am not sure if Gaby will return to Alicia or not. But I do think that there is hope for Gaby. Gaby was being brought up in a good home, and treated very well. Values are instilled in children at a young age, and if they learn good values, they tend to use those values and continue on to be productive adults. I think that once Gaby finds out about her biological parents, she will be right out there every Thursday like the rest of the mothers' protesting for a change.

Como Agua Para Chocolate

Good film, wasn't what I expected, but good film. I would like to focus on the themes that I saw in the film.

Magic realism was shown throughout the film. It actually started at the very beginning of the film when Mama Elena was giving birth to Tita. The water that was gushing out when she was delivering her was definitely reality mixed with nonexistence. Although most know that when you are getting ready to give birth, a woman's water will break, however, it will not cause a flood!

The next scene that showed magic realism was at Rosaura's wedding when everyone was eating the cake. Yes, Tita had cried over the batter and got tears in the batter, however, it is completely impossible for those tears to cause everyone who is eating the cake to cry like babies. However, the realism is the fact that people do cry at weddings, but it definitely isn't due to tears being in the batter!

Another scene was when Pedro gives the flowers to Tita for her one year anniversary of being the head cook. Mama Elena told Tita to throw them away, but the spirit of Nacha told Tita to make quails and rose sauce. The food was like an aphrodisiac, Pedro said, "This is the nectar of the gods", Rosaura gets sick, Mama Elena starts having funny feelings, but claims there is too much salt, and Gertrudis starts having an orgasm and runs to the outhouse to have a hot shower. To top it off, Gertrudis emitted a scent that traveled afar, and a Villista solider went out to seek it. Gertrudis is running the land naked and gets swooped up by the Villista solider and never comes back (at least for a while).



I saw Duty vs. Desire. Tita had a duty to cook. Mama Elena, was unable to produce milk due to shock at the recent death of her husband and consequently hands off Tita almost immediately to the house cook, Nacha, who rears Tita in the kitchen. Surrounded by the colors, smells, and routines of Nacha's kitchen, Tita grows up understanding the world in terms of food. She enjoys her isolation in the domain of the kitchen. Although Tita felt the duty of cooking especially since she was more expirenced than her two sisters, Tita had the desire to have freedom. Freedom to do as she chose to do. Tita had the desire to be loved, to get married, and have children. All of which she would not achieve under the steel hands of her mother.



Another theme would be family relationsihps. The relationship between Tita and her mother was not a good relationship. Although it seemed that the family was a tight nit family, it really wasn't. The only child that Mama Elena had that actually cared about her was Rosaura. Gertrudis was not impressed with her mother, nor was she going to live by her mothers ways. She proved that when she left the ranch and went to work in the brothel, and eventually became a general. Tita was not happy with her destiny of never marrying because she was the youngest, and the family tradition of the youngest daughter taking care of the mother until the mother's death.



The above picture represents the power that Mama Elena has over Gertrudis. When Gertrudis ran away with a Villista soldier, Mama Elena also found out from Father Ignacio that Gertrudis was working in a brothel near the border. Mama Elena was outraged and felt betrayed and disrespected. Therefore, she decided to burn all of Gertrudis’s photos and her birth certificate. Gertrudis brought upon shame to her mother. It symbolizes the power and negative effects that Mama Elena has over her children. I think that the actual burning of the birth certificate establishes Mama Elena's strength to ruin her children's lives if they ever betray or disrespect her, the fire, which occurs multiple times throughout the film, is a symbol that represents passion and destruction.



Tita tries to hide her pain in her cooking. The kitchen represents the outlet that Tita uses to escape her mother. It is her sanctuary that eliminates all the madness and chaos that surrounds her. The tools that are in the kitchen represent ways in which she can perfect her recipes and therefore cook in order to forget about her problems.



Even in death, Mama Elena is still trying to control Tita. She is still watching over Tita and wants to control her every action with Pedro. Mama Elena tells Tita not to see Pedro anymore and puts a curse on Tita’s unborn baby and Tita. Mama Elena is not giving up; and even though Tita finally told her to go away that she hates her, she leaves Tita, but tortures Pedro by catching him on fire, another symbol of destruction.



This final scene takes place at the end of the film. Pedro and Tita were intimate and were finally able to share there love without it being forbidden. It had taken them twenty-two years to get to this point. In the middle of their love scene Pedro dies. Tita then makes herself spontaneously combust by eating matches. This relates back to what the Doctor said about love and matches in the middle of the film. He states, “If one intense emotion were to light the matches all at once there would be a divine radiance.” This means that Tita was finally able to experience all her emotions for Pedro and when he died she could no longer be without him. Therefore, she sparks her emotions with the matches and then kills herself.



The fire symbolizes passion and destruction and suggests that the passion between Pedro and Tita was all consuming, just like the flames of the fire.

Esperanza's daughter stated that when her mother came back from her honeymoon, all she found under what remained of the ranch was a cookbook. Esperanza left that for her daughter when she died because it tells the story of the buried love between Tita and Pedro, and as long as the recipes are still being made, their love will continue to live.



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Diarios de Motocicleta

WOW!!!! What a very STRONG film this was! I enjoyed it so much, I watched it again just to make sure I didn't miss anything.

The film starts with Ernesto saying, "This isn't a tale of heroic feats, it's about two lives running parallel for a while with the common aspirations and similar dreams." Ernesto de la Serna, 1952



Ernesto de la Serna a 23-year old medical student and Alberto Granado a 29-year old biochemist were going on a journey

PLAN: to travel 8,000 KM in four months
METHOD: Improvision
GOAL: to explore a continent they only know in books
EQUIPMENT: "The Mighty One" an aged and leaky 1939 Norton 500
PILOT: Alberto "Mial" Granado, a self proclaimed "wondering scientist", chubby, biochemist
CO-PILOT: El Fuser, a medical student only one semester away from graduating, interested in leprosy, a rugby player and occassional asthmatic
ROUTE: Buenos Aries west to Patagonia and into Chile then North 6000 M up the rugged spine of the Andes to Machu Picchu, then the San Pablo Leper Colony in the Peruvian Amazon. Their final destination: the Guajira Peninsula in Venezuela.


The one thing that Fuser and Mial had in common was "their restlessness, their impassioned spirits and a love for the open road"

As the two got ready to leave, on January 4, 1952, Fuser's family was there to give their farewells and love. Mial promised Fuser's mother that he would take good care of her son.



They would take one detour, to Fuser's girlfriends home in Miramar to see Chichina. They were only supose to stay or two days, however, they ended up staying eight. Fuser was torn to stay with Chichina or continue with his journey.



They arrive in Argentine, lost their tent to the wind, and go to a farmers house to find shelter and food. The man lets them sleep in the barn with the migrants. Fuser writes his mother about the bike not being the "mighty one" and how money and food are scarce. Along the way they stop at houses to get food and shelter. They used the gun and shot a duck and Fuser swam in the lake to get it. After that, he got sick and had an asthma attack.

February 15 - Chile. Fuser writes his mother again..."what do we leave behind when we cross a frontier? Each moment seems split in two: melancholy for what is left behind and the excitement of entering a new land." Fuser and Mial decide that when they are old and tired of traveling they should setup a clinic on the lake.



February 18 - Chile. "Mighty One" isn't working very well, Fuser says they should walk the rest of the way because they would meet more people. Mial complains that Fuser is too honest. They walk the bike into the city. Fuser stops at the local newpaper office "Austral News" an tells them their story about their journey with a few "white lies", they get a free meal and a place to sleep. The next morning, there was a story about them in the newspaper and they used that to get more help, from a mechanic. That night many of the towns people run after Fuser and Mial and they get away on their bike. But the mechanic didn't fix the brakes and they crashed into cows in the road. They were picked up by some farmers.



February 26 - Chile 2940 km. Fuser and Mial come across two women who buy they food and wine. They also introduce them to their father at the firehouse. While Mial goes on a "tour" with the girls, Fuser visits a sick woman. Fuser has a very good beside manner and is very gentle. He writes to his mother once again "I know I was powerless to help her mom, this poor old woman who only a month ago waited tables wheezing like I do trying to live with dignity. In her dying eyes therew as a plea for forgiveness and for solace now vanished just as her body will soon be lost, in the greatest mystery that surrounds us."

Then they were told that the "Mighty One" is no longer mighty and should be sold for scrap. Mial take its hard, but does move on.



March 7, Valpariso, Chile - Fuser receives a letter from Chichina, he is very upset.

March 11, Desert Atacama - Fuser and Mial are walking through the desert. They are trying to get to the mine. They meet up with a couple who are looking for work. They land and a home but they were forced out, left their children, because the police were looking for them, because they are communists. "Their faces were tragic and haunting. They told us of comrades who had mysteriously disappeared and were said to be somewhere at the bottom of the sea. It was one of the coldest nights of my life, but also one which made me feel closer to this strange, for me anyway, human race." I think this experience is the beginning to shaping Fuser as a future leader.



March 15, Mina de Chuquicamata, Chile - There was a man picking ones that he will work, telling them to "hurry up" When he sees Fuser and Mial standing there, he tells them to leave or they will have them arrested, for trespassing at the Anaconda Mining Co. They found a ride, and while they were riding, they saw people walking across the mountains. Fuser wrote to his mother, "As we left Chuquicamata we could feel the world changing or was it us? The deeper we go into the Andes the more indigenous people we encounter, who are homelss in their own land. We finally entered Peru, thanks to a half-blind trucker named Felix, and guess what? Alberto turned thirty but not in Venezuela as he had planned. We were so tired, mom we couldn't celebrate."

April 2, Cuzco, Peru 6932 km, They meet a lady who never went to school because she's always with the livestock. She doesn't speak Spanish only Quechua. When she was little there was enough money to afford everything, but now there is little money and no work and it is affecting all of them more and more. Since she was little she worked with handicrafts and that's why she isn't doing so bad, not too good but okay.

They meet a man who was working on land for his landlord, the landlord kicked him off the land once it was productive, so he must move on to find money to educate his kids. He has five kids. He has organized with other farmers, they help each other, very unified.



April 5, Machu Picchu, Peru 7014 km. Fuser writes, "The Incas knew astronomy, brain surgery, mathematics, among othr things. But the Spanish invaders had gun powder. What would America look like today if things had been different? Mial had an idea he will marry an Inca descendant, start an indigneous party under the conditions: encourage people to vote, reactivate Tupac Amaru's revolution, the Indo-American Revolution. Fuser tells Mial that a revolution without guns will never work. Fuser writes some more, "How is it possible to feel nostalgic for a world I never knew? How can a civilization that built this be destroyed to build this?

Lima, Peru May 12, 8198 km. Fuser and Mial meet Dr. Hugo Pesce, the director of Peru's leper treatment program. Alberto contacted him before they started their journey. Dr. Pesce gave them clothes, food, money, and ideas. While Fuser is reading a book, he has flashbacks of the people he has seen over the course of their journey.



May 25, Pucallpa, Peru 8983 km. Fuser and Mial board the "La Cenepa" for a five day trip to San Pablo and the leper colony. Fuser has an asthma attack while on the ship. Mial meets Luz. Since Mial didn't have any money, Mial plays blackjack to win money so he can have a night of fun.



June 8, San Pablos 10223 km. Fuser and Mial meet Dr. Bresciani. He shows them around. The patients live on the South side across the Amazon River, while the nurses and staff live on the North side. There are about 600 patients. Most of the patients families brought them to the colony. The nurses are persistent with them wearing gloves, but Fuser and Mial refuse. Fuser sees that the river segregrates the ill from the healthy, and he doesn't take to that too well. Aside from helping the sick, they form a special bond with them, they play soccer with them, they eat in the same area as them. Mial receives a letter from Caracas. He is thinking that maybe it is time for him to settle down. Fuser is not sure if he wants to go back to Buenos Aries.



June 24 They have a party on the North side for Fuser's birthday. They were so happy with the all the help that Fuser and Mial gave them, they gave them a raft to continue their journey and named it "Mambo Tango". After Fuser gives a speech, he goes outside and looks across the river. He wants to celebrate with the patients. Fuser swims across the Amazon, the patients hear the commotion and go out to see what is going on. When they realize that Fuser was swimming across, they started cheering him on. The next day they say their good-byes and Fuser and Mial continue their journey.





July 26, Caracas, Venezuela 12425 km. Fuser leaves and he says that their journey gave him something to think about for a long time, there is so much injustice. Mial tells him that his birthday is really August 8th, that he just gave April 4 as his birthday so they would do their best to complete their journey. Fuser gets on the plane.



The end of the movie..."This isn't a tale of heroic feats. Its about two lives running parallel for a while with common apirations and similar dreams. Was our view too narrow, too biased, too hasty? Were our conclusions too rigid? Maybe. Wondering around our America has changed me more than I thought. I am not me anymore, at least I am not the same me I was."


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Women On the Verge of A Nervous Breakdown

I have to give this file TWO THUMBS DOWN. However, I did a little research and found some interesting information from some reviews which I think explain why I just didn't see the "Comedy" in this film:

"There are some movies that, no matter how good the translation, are just impossible for a particular audience to get." http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095675/




"If you don't speak or understand Spanish, (or some other language that comes from Latin) you won't be able to get this film as much as others. There is a reason why so many American comedians are never able to make it overseas: Humor is simply not international. The rumored but thankfully never completed American remake of this would have never worked. The performances for example: To people who understand the language, you can tell when the characters are being ironic, sarcastic, goofy, or serious. I don't think you can do that very well when English is your first language. So the users that have been complaining about "flat" performances might be already explained." http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095675/



To begin the film, it just hasn't been Pepa's day, or even week. Ivan, her longtime lover and a male-chauvinist rat, walks out on her, leaving only a bland message on her answering machine. Planning suicide, Pepa spikes a blenderful of garden-fresh gazpacho with sleeping pills, but forgets to drink it.


Saying she really shouldn't smoke, Pepa lights a cigarette and sets her bed ablaze. Her best friend, Candela, who has been having a blissful affair with a man she didn't realize was a Shiite terrorist, comes by looking for refuge from the police.




The first couple to look at Pepa's apartment, which she has put on the market, are Carlos, Ivan's grown son, whom Pepa had never known about, and Marisa, Carlos toothy girlfriend. When Pepa seeks legal advice, the lawyer happens to be Ivan's newest mistress.



Are feelings in this film overreacted? YES, they most certainly are. The burning of the bed, throwing the telephone (several times) due to anger. The chase of the taxi's, Candela attempting to throw herself over the balcony, and crying all the time are way OVERACTED feelings.





Do you find differences between women in the film and today's American women? What could have been different in the film if the context was in the United States?

Women in the US, I think in a way act the same as Pepa did when it comes to heartbreak. When a man such as Ivan betrays the heart as he did with Pepa's he is lucky not to have been in the bed that was burning! One thing that would have been different is the animals at the house, women in the US usually don't have chickens living out on the terrace of their penthouse. Another thing that would be different, is I don't think I would see an American woman punch out a lawyer just because of what they say.






Do you think there is a difference among women from Spanish American and women from Spanish Europe?

Yes I do think there is a difference, HOT and COLD! The women from Spanish Europe are Cold Cultured women. they don't smile when passing each other, they are blunt and straight to the point, whereas Spanish American women are Hot Cultured women. They acknowledge you in passing, and very family oriented.




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~Machuca~

What thoughts do you have about the interaction between these two children?

Father McEnroe was a Priest/Principal at St. Patricks private all boys school. Father McEnroe took on students from the "shantytown" in an attempt to democratize education. Among the "shantytown" students was Pedro, who seems to be a loner but soon becomes the brunt of the rich kids' prejudice. Gonzalo, a rich kid, who seems to be a loner too, who takes the brunt from the rich kids as well, befriends Pedro, and gradually the two boys form a strong bond. This bond leads the boys to learn about their seperate families and life styles. Pedro is amazed by the luxury that Gonzalo lives in, with his closet full of clothes, Nike shoes, and seperate rooms to live and sleep in. While Pedro lives in a shack, shared by many, with dirt floors and outhouses, Gonzalo finds warmth in family, something that he is lacking at home.





Were you able to see the differences between two social classes, the rich and the poor in Chile?

Yes, you could definatley see the differenes between the two social classes. When Father McEnroe brought the boys in the class from the shantytown, they way they were dressed, in old tattered clothes, they didn't have swim trunks to swim in, their shoes old. Then you had the rich kids, who had the nice expensive uniforms, they all had matching gym clothes, name brands gym shoes. Another time when you really saw the difference in the two social classes was when Father McEnroe was having a meeting with the parents about why it will work with the boys from shantytown going to St. Patricks, how the rich parents sat on one side of the room and the poor parents on the other side. Although Pedro lived not far away, the shantytown was nothing but a bunch of "huts" built with boards, and scrap, with no running water or electricity, but Gonzalo had a nice house with many rooms, electricty and running water.





What messages can you obtain from this film?

The message I obtained from this film, is even though there was turmoil in Chile, Pedro and Gonzalo was able to overlook that, and overlook "status" and still become close friends. They didn't care what each other had from a material stand point, what they cared about what each other friendship, and having fun.





This was a good film, it really makes you look at what goes on here in the US. Everything is based on status, money, and class.

Machuca - Not my answers

So, this was a very different film. I am trying to find it online to rewatch it again because I feel like I missed so much...has anyone tried to find it like myself???? Please let me know!!! Thanks!