CathyMatthews Like Water for Chocolate

There was so much going on in this movie, it's hard to pick a discussion topic. The mother Madame Elena was quite the witch. She was so proper in front of guests but so very strict and uncaring with her children and workers. She pretty much gave Tita to Nacha and then became upset when they were bonding. Rosaura was like her mother, very cold and selfish, not like her sisters Tita and Gertrudis. The tradition of the youngest daughter not being able to marry and being "sentenced" to care for the mother until death was crazy to me. Is this a real tradition or just for this family? Why not let Tita get married and still live in the same house or at least close by. I feel like the mother was very jealous of Tita, who was pretty and well liked. I loved Gertrudis' spirit the most. She was so wild and carefree. She was the happiest of them all because she was free of her mother's rules. Yet she became a general and was a leader of men.

The magic realism was apparent in several scenes. The kitchen is one where Nacha first exposed Tita to food and it's magic, saying she would have all the boys looking at her. Also when they were making the wedding cake and Tita cried in the batter causing those who ate it to be sent into an emotional tailspin and made them sick.
When Pedro gave Tita the roses and she made the sauce with them, she put a "spell" on it so those who ate it would become aroused. Even those who could smell the sauce from far away became aroused. That is how Gertrudis met her future husband! It was a very sensual but funny scene.
Tita also dreams of having Pedro, but knows she can't because he is married to her sister. However, in reality she settles for having him whenever she can.
Tita becomes close to her niece and helps her to break the tradition of caring for her mother and not being able to marry. In the end, Esparanza marries and when Tita makes the cake another "spell" makes those who eat it become aroused and run off with a partner to have sex! What a funny ending to a delightful film!

CathyMatthews Motorcycle Diaries

I think there were several specific occasions that could have been helpful in shaping a future leader. One was in the desert when Ernesto and Alberto met the couple who had lost their house and belongings to the authorities. Ernesto didn't like that they had been forced to live off of the land and both having to find work even if it means they have to be split apart.

Another point was when the guys met some farmers. The farmers explained that they were without jobs because the government had taken back the farms after they had made them productive.

Also when they were on the ferry to San Pablo, Ernesto didn't like to see the ferry pulling a small boat behind them with the poor and sick people on it.

Finally, when the men reached the leper colony, Ernesto was bothered by the separation of the healthy people on one side of the river and the sick on the other side. He didn't feel it was necessary to follow the rule of wearing gloves when touching the sick patients.

All of these events seemed to make a difference in how Ernesto was thinking how things were done and could be done differently. It all seemed to add up when he was preparing to leave the island to continue his journey. His heartfelt birthday toast seemed to say it all. The emotions he showed when he was speaking, you could almost feel it. You could see his mind working on a solution for all the injustice that he had witnessed on this journey.

I liked the movie even thought I had never heard of Che Guevara. It seemed to me that Che had the right idea of helping those that others wouldn't because he was very caring and compassionate.

Women on the verge of a nervous breakdown

Given the examples of Spanish-speaking women in this film, it shows just how different they can be. Pepa is the lover of a married man, Ivan. She was okay with it until Ivan left her and she felt used, even though she was being used all along. Lucia, who was a crazy woman, but was Ivan's wife, knew about Pepa and let it go on until she thought Ivan was leaving town with Pepa. Then she wanted revenge. Both women let Ivan sweet talk them at one time but both now were angry with him. They both let him use them because they would be rewarded somehow by him and then forget about what he had done. Candela also let men use her. But Marissa was different. She was the "man" in her relationship with Carlos, as long as he was in her sight.

I think some things were over the top, but it was a movie and it was a comedy. However, I can see this stuff happening in the U. S. as well. I think the burning bed was crazy and a little much, but you could see in Pepa's eyes that she wasn't thinking straight at the time. Making the gazpacho was scary to me.

There isn't really a difference in the two cultures when it comes to relationships. American women are pretty much the same. I have seen women slash tires or throw clothes out in the yard when their mate leaves them. It wouldn't be considered too funny if it happened in real life!! If the film was in the U.S. it would have been the same.

The film was different and hard to follow at times. It did show how differently people handle situations while trying to be funny.

The women from Spanish Europe seem to be more sophisticated and career minded, while the Spanish American women seem to be more simple, homemakers. The Spanish American women are becoming more "Americanized" it seems. I can only say this from what I have seen on TV or in movies.
Cathy Matthews

Machuca

This movie shows just how kids can put aside differences better than adults. They aren't as judgmental unless they have been taught to be. Pedro came from a humble, poor home while Gonzalo came from a selfish, rich home. Both boys had to deal with adult problems. Pedro with poverty, a single mother, poor living standards and possibly shame. Gonzalo had his mother who had a "sugar daddy" and a father who allowed it to continue. Both boys just needed someone to be a kid with, share interests like The Lone Ranger books, and to try to forget about their home lives. They were treating each other like they wanted to be treated. They were protective of each other also.
It seemed the two classes were to the extreme while being so close physically to each other. The rich had it all-the luxury homes, cars with drivers, food, clothes, security. The poor lived in "homes" made with panels of wood, metal or anything else they could find, dirt floors, very little food, few pieces of clothing, old shoes, shared primitive toilet, and no security in the homes. The poor sold to or worked for the rich and the rich treated the poor very badly.
The message could be that we are all just a fine line away from being one extreme or another. We are all more alike than some want to admit. You are not a better person just because you are rich. It's usually the opposite. Pedro's mother was very humble but willing to share her home and food with Gonzalo. Gonzalo's mother was nice to Pedro but didn't want him to share her son's school. The boys put that aside and could be best friends without judgement until their parents became involved with separating them in school.
The movie was good to show the differences in classes with in the same culture. They should have been banding together instead of separating. The boys being friends are no different than U.S. kids. They don't notice or care about what is different, they just focus on what is the same. That's how it should be.

under the same moon

Rosario, Carlitos mother, made the choice to leave behind a world of poverty and uncertainty and risk her life to go to a place illegally so that her and her son could survive together. She knew that her mother loved Carlitos and would care for him as well as he would care for his grandmother. She felt she had no other choice, even with the risks for her crossing the border illegally and the risks of leaving her son with her ill mother. I don't think she thought it would take as long as it did to earn enough money to bring her son to the United States. But she knew it was a better decision than to stay in Mexico and have to struggle with the poverty she faced.
Rosario wanted her son to have the things that she never had in her life and didn't want him to turn to the streets, like his friend Chito who sells gum in town.
Carlito missed his mother very much everyday. He was very focused for a 9-yr. old. He would wake up every morning and get his grandmother's breakfast while also getting ready for school. He also had a job so he could make enough money to go to Los Angeles to find his mother. Not many 9 yr.old children could stay focused on anything that intense for that long.
Rosario also missed her son every single day, especially since one of her jobs was babysitting a young boy. Through her daily struggles working 2 jobs and working for an ungrateful employer, she saved her money and thought of Carlito.
Not only Moms, but most people in the U.S. take for granted the life they have here. If you are a legal citizen, you have many resources that are not offered in Mexico. As a mother myself, I have done things to protect my daughter, but nothing to that extreme. I really couldn't say if a mother would go this far, but chances are they would.