El Viaje de Carol

I really enjoyed this film . Even without the subtitles I think I was able to get the point of the film. I was tempted to watch the film with subtitles but decided to do this post before I did. Carol was a young girl with both American and Spanish heritages. Speaking fluent Spanish certainly helped in her adjustment to Spanish life, however I could see how the American culture sometimes made it difficult for her to adjust. She appeared to be outspoken , able to talk with both adults and children and speak her mind. While her Spanish cousin meekly obeyed her mother, Carol rebelled, climbed out the window ,found her grandfather and convinced him to let her live with him after her mothers death. She wore boys clothing instead of the more feminine way of dress. She looked uncomfortable the few times she had a skirt/dress on. She was a tomboy at heart climbing trees and giving as good as she got.During her first communion she insisted on the more masculine way of dress.
After her mothers death knowing her father was fighting in a war, Carol continued to pay to get letters to her father. She didn't want to upset him with news of her mothers death, even begging her grandfather not to tell him. Her relationship with Tomachi was very sweet , he risked his life and ultimately died to help her father escape.
This was an enjoyable film, Carol's cold climate upbringing was evident she is strong willed ,able to speak her mind and unwilling to conform to societies rules just to fit in. I look forward to rewatching this with subtitles.

Lisa Gallagher

VOVLVER

This film showed the strength of the women from the very beginning. The women are seen taking care of the graves of the men with the winds blowing violently. It's the belief in the village that strong winds can make you crazy.The women live much longer than the men and believe that a person never really dies.
Raimunda ,her sister Sole and daughter Paula visit Raimundas aunt Paula in the village La Mancha. Paula is old and confused and insists that Irene, Raimunda and Soles mother who is supposedly dead has been caring for her. Visions of Irenes ghost had been seen by people in the village, this is accepted as normal.
Raimundas daughter Paula confides that she stabbed her father Paco to death after he attempted to rape her claiming that he was not her father. Raimunda never hesitated she immediately accepted what her daughter told her as fact and went about concealing the crime. She did what she had to do to protect her daughter even telling her daughter remember I killed him. During the process of disposing of the body Raimunda finds out that her aunt Paula had died. Sole attends the funeral alone and returns home to Madrid to find her mothers ghost in the trunk of the car. Accepting that her mothers ghost is there seemed normal to her. Eventually Raimunda meets up with her mothers ghost and realizes that her mother had never really died.
The women in the film were all very strong and capable. Sole supported herself with an illegal beauty salon, Raimunda was able to care for her daughter by running the restaurant without the owners permission. These women were not submissive like most of the films we've viewed.
Each woman lived with their own demons. Raimunda was raped by her father and became pregnant with Paula. She harbored a deep resentment towards Irene for not realizing what was going on and stopping it. Irene finally realizing what had happened to Raimunda and discovering that her husband was having an affair with Augustinas mother set a fire that killed the two.
Realizing that her mother was alive gave the women time to repair their relationship. Irene feeling guilty that she had caused the death of Augustinas mother decided to care for Augustina in her final days of her illness to somehow atone for her sins.
The superstitions would be that the strong winds caused insanity and that the presence of ghosts was common place. I enjoyed the fact that these women did what had to be done in order to survive and were able to maintain loving relationships with each other .

Guantanamera

In this film I thought the hot climate culture was very evident. The relationships were all so passionate. Yoyita's reunion with Candido , even after 50 years the passion remains. As Candido is pledging his eternal love to Yoyita she dies in his arms. He's devastated and thinks about all they could have had if he would have had the courage to travel to Havana many years ago and pursue his dream like Yoyita did. Aldolfo was the typical Machismo character he was loud ,dictatorial, cold,cruel you name it that was him. He managed to keep Gina under his thumb. Like so many of the movies Gina was submissive,wearing the clothes he liked and keeping her hair up. Finally she broke free from him and dared to buy the dress she wanted in order to look good forMariano, she let her hair down and stood up to Adolfo. Mariano had a woman at every stop. Fidelity does not seem to be a mainstay in this culture.
Aldolfo wanted to regain his lost power, he wanted to leave behind his work as a funeral director. His plan was to transport the bodies via a caravan system ,changing vehicles in every town . He cared little about the deceased, he wanted to remain within his timeframe no matter what. At one point he crammed two caskets into one vehicle even though they barely fit. In the end he ended up mixing the bodies up ,the shock killed Candido.
Food or lack thereof was evident. Everywhere they traveled they were buying /smuggling food. Bananas/rum/coffee were bought with dollars, no one would take Cuban money. Poverty and shortages in Cuba were apparent. Ramon blessed his truck with the smoke from a Havana cigar-witchcraft.
As the movie progressed I enjoyed watching Gina break free from Adolfo's hold on her and become her own woman. She found the courage to follow her dreams one of which was Mariano. He also seemed to change when he met Gina again he attempted to break up with the many women he had in every town. A good film I enjoyed it.

The Official Story

I enjoyed this film even though I felt like it was drawn out in places. Alicia is a naieve history teacher married to a wealthy lawyer. Childless for a number of years Alicia and Roberto adopted a little girl named Gaby. Roberto handled the adoption and Alicia who seemed subserviant never asked any questions regarding her birth/adoption.
Alicia lived in blissful ignorance in regards to the effects of the war until her best friend Ana showed up unexpectedly one day. Ana opened up to Alicia about the kidnapping, subsequent torture she endured and her exile. Ana spoke about the many pregnant woman who were held captive with her whose babies were taken and placed with government officials for adoption.This and the beliefs of her students caused Alicia to have doubts about where Gaby ,who is five now, came from since Roberto handled the adoption.
Alicia questions Roberto about Gaby's birth mother. Each time she brings it up Roberto gets angry/agressive so she attempts to find the information herself. She goes to the hospital and is not very successful in getting information. She meets Sara who is a member of the grandmothers of the plaza de mayo. They are a large group of women who are trying to find out what happened to their children after they were kidnapped by the military. Sara believes that Alicia needs help finding a child. Sara sees Gaby and realizes that there is a strong resemblence to her daughter. Alicia is distraught. During the time Alicia spends searching for answers regarding Gabys birth she seems to gain confidence in herself ,she leaves her hair down and seems to stand up to Roberto more.
When Sara and Roberto meet he becomes angry when he realizes that they feel she may be Gabys grandmother and he throws her out. Roberto asks where Gaby is , Alicia responds Horrible isn't it, not knowing where your daughter is. Roberto, enraged, beats Alicia .The beating is stopped when Gabby calls. Alicia leaves the house. Hopefully with no intention of returning.
I feel like Roberto was becoming increasingly panicked that things were getting out of control .He seemed to place great value on the fact that he wasn't a "loser". Thats what he kept saying to his father when they were arguing.I think he saw that life as he knew it was going to change. He completely lost control when Alicia stood up to him and dared question him about his activities. I hope Alicia and Gaby remained together and made a new life which included Sara.