At the start of the film, you see a well-adjusted, curious, energetic little girl named Gaby taking a bath and singing while her mother is close by. It appears that this is a very happy family. And it is at least superficially. As long as secrets are kept just that, secret.
Gaby is a 4 year old little girl who is unbeknownst to her adopted. Adopted secretly be her father Roberto. Only he knows the secrets involved in the adoption. Alicia, her mother, was commanded by Roberto to not be involved with the adoption and to never bring it up again. That was the deal they made so Alicia who couldn't have children would finally be a mother.
Gaby was a very happy but also curious child. I loved how she asked so many questions. And good questions too for her age. She loved her parents with all her heart. But she wasn't aware of all that went on with them.
At her 5th birthday party, although she was having fun at first, I think the kids her age bored her. And the big kids scared her with their war games. Although I don't think Gaby was actually aware of the war and protests going on around her, I do think she could have been traumatized at birth. She just didn't seem to like loud noise, which she wasn't used to.
When Alicia started thinking about Gaby's background, she changed all together. She let her hair down and was warming up to her students. She was usually very cold and strict. It was like her emotions broke through and she had feelings again.
Alicia was a loving mother to Gaby but when she thought about her parents, she just couldn't live with it. After making the decision to look into finding Gaby's parents and meeting her possible grandmother, Alicia began making her plan.
Gaby was doing fine not knowing the truth about her adoption and her parents. Would you say Alicia and Roberto were lying to her? I don't think so. Gaby being who she was, I think she would have been fine knowing about her past.
I think that the end of the film was symbolic with Gaby rocking in the chair waiting for her parents to come and get her. She was not aware that the life she once knew would never be the same again. The same thing happened to Alicia when she was young, waiting for her parents at her grandparents home, not knowing that her parents were killed in an accident and were not coming home again.
That said, I think there is nothing but hope for Gaby because of who she is. She will be okay with anything that comes her way. She is already stronger at 5 than some adults are ever going to be!
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I am sure that Gaby will continue to be a happy child. However, I do think that knowing what she is about to find out may hurt her relationship with her father. Interestingly, he seemed such a wonderful man, husband and father throughout the movie, that the ending was shocking.
ReplyDeleteHowever, it was an eye opener when he was at his parents house and his father was stating his dissapointments with how Roberto had decided to live his life.
Thank you for bringing up Alicia's hair. She went from a tight bunned, uptight, school marm, to a free spirited, thinking woman.
In a sense, I do not think that Gaby's parents come to get her. I think the rocking chair is a symbol of that. The fact that Alicia sat in that chair day in and day out waiting for her parents to come get her, now Gaby is in the same predicament. I only hope that Sara works on trying to get Gaby into her life so she can enjoy her granddaughter, who is such a resembalence of her daughter.
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