Cammy Reagan; Like Water Like Chocolate

This was a different film, however I did enjoy it. The themes that came to light for me were the fact family traditions were to be followed at any cost. They were unrealistic though. The fact that the last born daughter was bound to care for the mother until death was very unrealistic. I saw many things in this film that could be considered in the magic realism stance. When Tita was born and her mother was unable to nurse from her mother and had to be cared for "in the kitchen" by Nacha the family cook. Tita grew up in the kitchen and became very comfortable in that role. When she met Pedro and fell in love with him, her mother superco eded her wishes and told her that the tradition was to care for her until her death. Her mother decided that Pedro would marry Rosaura. Pedro agreed to marry her in order to be close to Tita, which in a strange kind of way was a little romantic in that if he could not have the one that he loved, he would marry the next best thing. Tita and Pedro met many obstacles along the path of their love story. Tita prepared the food for Rosaura and Pedro's wedding, then became the house cook. The magic realism also was seen when she made quail with rose petal sauce that was an aphrodisiac and Gertrudis took off to take a hot shower and was carried off with Juan Alejandrez in the nude. Dr. Brown met Tita when she cared for Rosaura when she helped with the delivery of her nephew, and then was consequently cared for by him after her nephew died and Tita needed help of her own. He fell in love with her and when she confessed to him that she had been with another man that he did not care what she had done, he would marry her anyway. Tita could not give up on the love that she had for Pedro and in the end after the death of her mother and sister, they were finally able to be together with no obstacles. They were finally together in love and in death. What a romantic ending.

Cammy Reagan; Motorcycle Diaries

In the beginning, I saw Ernesto as a handsome, young, naive man lacking humility. On his journey with Alberto he endured hunger, lack of shelter, severe and extreme weather, and illness. As he and Alberto traveled, they met many people along the way who had much less than they had. I think the beginning the turning point for him was when he met the couple who had their livelihood taken away because they were communist. Ernesto gave his coat to the woman so she would not be cold. I think he was frustrated with the lack of caring shown by the owners of the mines who took men to work, when he told them that the men needed water. He gave away the American money when he could have gotten what he and Alberto needed with it. I think another turning point for him was when he and Alberto worked at the leprosy clinic and he saw the sick as humans, not just dick people. He did not follow the rules when he chose not to wear gloves when caring for them. Then when the time came for them to say goodbye, he left his birthday celebration and swam across the Amazon river to spend his birthday with the sick. I felt he did not like the separation of sick from the healthy. I think his journey gave him humility and the inner strength to try and force change for those who did not have the strength to do it for themselves. He set out to make a difference and died in the process of that journey. He became a very selfless man who gave up a life that could have been very easy and comfortable for the good of his countrymen.

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

Cammy Reagan

I think that the Spanish speaking women in this film were definitely over the top. There was much machismo noted in the film. Of course, that was the culture back when the film was made not only in Spain, but in America, as well. Women during that era spent a lot of time trying to please their man, not as today as most women are very independent and self sufficient. Given the era that this film was made, I did not think that the feelings were over reacted, however for the current era, it would be complete over reaction. I do, however believe that reactions that occurred in this film are what many women who have dealt with infidelity would be, just maybe not as extreme as these reactions were. You may still find some women that react in those extreme way in today's culture, as you can see on the evening news any given night of the week. I think that women of today are much more sophisticated and educated. They don't feel it is necessary to have a man to take care of them, as they are able to take care of themselves and their children. This has also been proven time and time again. I also think that women of today would seek to get a divorce, if married, since it is much easier to do so and people do not look down on you for doing so, or they will just break up with the man that has done them so wrong. Women are not as forgiving as they once were.
I thought the film was somewhat humorous. One of the thoughts that I took away from the movie was that Carlos was the apple that did not fall far from the tree. He was in the apartment with his fiancee' who was asleep on the balcony, kissing another woman. Not only did he kiss Candela, he kissed Pepa as well. I thought "like father, like son". The plot itself was almost a slapstick comedy with the phone being thrown out the window, the spiked gazpacho that was given to the police officers, the makeup and the hair that Lucia sported were quite remarkable.

Machuca

Cammy Reagan:

I thought it was very interesting how the two boys interacted. It was child development 101. It proves the fact that children do not see color, race, religion or any of the things that adults see and use to judge others. These children were innocent. They new they had obvious differences, but they did not let that interfere with their friendship until the end of the movie when the change in government happened. Pedro and Gonzalo had the same familial problems in that Pedro's father was obviously an alcoholic and did not take care of his family the way he should have done. Gonzalo's mother also did things that were not in the best interest of Gonzalo especially when she took him to her boyfriends houses and had him take gifts from them. There was also an obvious difference in the two social classes. The rich had everything and the poor had nothing. The housing was noticably different in that Pedro lived in a small shanty with several family members sharing the same space. They had very little in the way of clothing and he noticed the difference in what Gonzalo had when he went to his house and saw the amount of clothing he had in his closet. There was also a difference in the food they ate. Gonzalo did not eat the snack that was offered to him at Pedro's house. I saw some of the same things in this film as I saw in Under the Same Moon. There were obvious distinctions in the rich vs the poor. There were some of the same struggles in trying to make a better life for their families. The best message I took away from this film is that we all need to be less judgemental and accepting of others no matter how different they are from ourselves. If we could do this, just think of how much better the world would be. While watching this film I found it hard to follow at times and felt as if it jumped from scene to scene without any lead into each different scene. I am definately seeing the world from a different perspective. I did see myself as a pretty culturally diverse person before watching these past two movies, but I am seeing that I have a lot more to learn ......