A mother and her two children move from Columbia to join up with the father in New York. The father abandons them. The mother and children are left alone to struggle and find a way to survive. Simply put, this is the plot of Paola Mendoza's and Gloria La Morte's Entre Nos. Of course, it's not quite that simple. The set design, the costumes that our characters wear, the lighting, and, most importantly the acting renders the film from being just another melodramatic flick to a genuine narrative of a three real people—Mariana, Gabriel, and Andrea—who seek to merely survive and thrive as all people do. As the film begins, there is music and there is food. The characters are in good spirits, for Mariana, Gabriel, Andrea, and Antonio have come together. The scene shows a sense of solidarity amongst the family. As a viewer it causes you to ask, what are they celebrating?" Soon enough, you discover that although this is a time of warm and cheerful feelings, it also proves to be the family's "last supper" together as the father— Antonio—abandons them shortly after. So, to answer the question: the farewell to a deadbeat father and disloyal husband is what they celebrate, ironically. Mendoza uses lighting in this dinner scene that is soft and not overly bright. The warmness is conveyed by the array of green, red, and orange colors adorned by the vegetables. The characters' attires bear these hues as well, and this is meant to symbolize the vivacity of this atmosphere. The music is melodic, it has a steady and "upbeat" tempo to it—the Latin salsa semblance it bears points to perhaps the joy and happiness the characters had in their native Columbia. With this tragic event, Mendoza and Morte demonstrate the overwhelming power that men have over the family. For instance, we see that Antonio's decision to leave his family brings forth disastrous consequences for his wife and children. They suffer emotionally and physically: Mariana weeps along with her children night and day for the emptiness in their hearts that they yearn to be filled. Additionally, they starve to the point where they become emaciated in appearance. They have to roam in the streets to beg for food, looking weathered and withered. So that is to say, they cannot support themselves alone without a man, at least not without tremendous effort. Interestingly, during this period, the interior life is now dark and dank. There is no feeling of coziness like there was at the beginning of the film. In fact, there is few furniture and few things to do. To contrast, the outer world is brighter; there is somewhat more cheer in the streets. As the protagonists collect cans through rubbish dumps and sell empanadas, they interact with Americans by speaking their native Spanish speckled with some English. And this implies the duality of their personalities: they are both Columbian and American. The use of both languages shows their attempt to assimilate. Furthermore, the music at this point marks a moment of reflection and thought for our main characters and also shows them in motion, highlighting their upward progression. All the same, behind the foil of a worthless man the directors emphasize the strength of women. Mariana epitomizes the loving and nurturing nature of a mother: She works diligently to satisfy the demands of her children, she makes sacrifice after sacrifice to see to it that her children are happy. At the same time, she manages to keep a smile before them despite the fact that the world around her is cold and judgmental. The park scene where Mariana weeps quietly with her children sleeping on her lap expresses this notion so well. She had been aborted by society. She suffers miserably, having to fend for her children. Worse yet, because she is poor and appears dirty people ascribe negative things to her and her children. However, Mariana draws strength from her children. Their future and its success motivate her to keep going. She reminds me of the character, Tita, from the novel Como Agua Para Chocolate; for she, too, struggles to maintain and get to where she's going. Most of all, for both women the obstacles they face come from societal origins. Something comes in between them and their hopes and aspirations. For Tita this is represented in her mother who keeps her from love and the pleasures of marriage and for Mariana this is her inability to be understood because of linguistic, financial and cultural barriers. Entre Nos tell us that a family isn't necessarily constituted by a blood-affiliated group. Rather, it is a group who respect one another and struggle together to overcome the challenges. We as a society are a huge family. Yet what stands "between us" is our misunderstandings of one another. Our tendency to prejudge one another renders us incapable of seeing eye to eye on things and prevents us from working together for our own benefit. This is the amazing message behind the movie and for this reason I recommend it without any objections.
Reviews
2 Reviews
Like Water for Chocolate
(1992)
Like Water for Chocolate: Passion Personified by Food
27 February 2011
Warning: Spoilers
In the film, Like Water for Chocolate, screenwriter Laura Esquivel alongside her husband and director, Alfonso Arau, tackle a subject that is considered taboo in many cultures: Sexual passion, and the embrace of it. For many of us, as children especially, we are taught to turn off our "passion button." We are trained to react to and treat such feelings as a base and instinctive nature that, by all means, must be kept in check, for it gets in the way of our good sense. However, through the variant metaphors of food, the couple captures the quintessence of love and sexual desire. From the way the film begins, one gets a sense right away that it is a distant time, the late nineteenth century to be precise, and the place, Mexico (of course, this is also stated). The time is a turbulent one. Revolution is in the air. The dim lighting throughout the movie matches the hush-hush atmosphere of such a time. In addition, the outfits fit such a time as well. They are not awfully bright. In fact, they are earthen colors: a lot of brown black and khaki coloring, with occasional white. They are not revealing, they are lose-fitting garment-style dresses and attires for women and the men wear dark suits and pants most of the time. Again, this befits a time of privation, and a high-guarded sense of morality. The people look and act modestly and this is Arau's way of pointing out to the viewers that this is a time of rigid traditional structure.
From the manner in which she born, one sees that the protagonist, Tita, will struggle to find her way: She is forced out of her mother's stomach by the smell of onions, "making a premature entrance into this world. " Surely enough she is denied love and marriage and is instead doomed to care for her abusive and repressive mother until she dies. And so her only way to express her passion is through the making of scrumptious food. "The joy of living is wrapped up in the delights of food for Tita." It is how she "comprehends the outside world." The amazing aromas and sounds bring her satisfaction but this is not enough, for the contact she makes with a man awakens her to a totally whole new set of feelings. Nevertheless, when she attempts to exploit them, she's stopped in her tracts. She suffers emotionally and physically for the longest time as a consequence. The best part of all this is that as an audience, we get to hear Tita's thoughts as the plot rolls onward because the narrator— the great-niece of Tita — fills us in. Unlike most movies that are overwhelmed with narration. Arau and Esquivel, exercise this option wisely and sparingly, cleverly drawing you more into the movie. In fact as you watch, the narration causes you to develop a greater sense of sympathy for Tita. It is tantamount to viewing a play and witnessing the character do monologue or an aside.
"Each of us is born with a box of matches inside us but we can't strike them all by ourselves, just as in an experiment, we need oxygen and a candle to help the oxygen would come from the breath of a person you love; the candle could be any kind of food, music, caress, word, or sound that engenders the explosion that lights one of the matches If one doesn't find out in time what will set off these explosion, the box of matches dampens, and not a single match will ever be lighted." This is a quote from the novel of the film. It serves as central theme and a rebuttal to all who preach against, attempt to doubt, and deny their passions.
After seeing the movie, one is left with a gnawing feeling to exploit one's unexpressed passions. Tita represents every person, in that she gives some credence to the ideas of society, as she obeys her mother carefully, staying in the kitchen cooking and working her butt off to please those around her. But by the end of the film she discovers that she must live to please herself as well. When she finally makes love to Pedro (the man of her dreams), and experiences the most intense climax in her life, it is when she realizes "she doesn't want to die." She wants more; she "wants to experience these emotions more times." This is what Arau and Esquivel, is saying it means to live and be alive. Like Water for Chocolate is a well done film. I recommend it without reservation to anyone who down for love and has the curiosity and imagination to see love portrayed in so many creative ways.
From the manner in which she born, one sees that the protagonist, Tita, will struggle to find her way: She is forced out of her mother's stomach by the smell of onions, "making a premature entrance into this world. " Surely enough she is denied love and marriage and is instead doomed to care for her abusive and repressive mother until she dies. And so her only way to express her passion is through the making of scrumptious food. "The joy of living is wrapped up in the delights of food for Tita." It is how she "comprehends the outside world." The amazing aromas and sounds bring her satisfaction but this is not enough, for the contact she makes with a man awakens her to a totally whole new set of feelings. Nevertheless, when she attempts to exploit them, she's stopped in her tracts. She suffers emotionally and physically for the longest time as a consequence. The best part of all this is that as an audience, we get to hear Tita's thoughts as the plot rolls onward because the narrator— the great-niece of Tita — fills us in. Unlike most movies that are overwhelmed with narration. Arau and Esquivel, exercise this option wisely and sparingly, cleverly drawing you more into the movie. In fact as you watch, the narration causes you to develop a greater sense of sympathy for Tita. It is tantamount to viewing a play and witnessing the character do monologue or an aside.
"Each of us is born with a box of matches inside us but we can't strike them all by ourselves, just as in an experiment, we need oxygen and a candle to help the oxygen would come from the breath of a person you love; the candle could be any kind of food, music, caress, word, or sound that engenders the explosion that lights one of the matches If one doesn't find out in time what will set off these explosion, the box of matches dampens, and not a single match will ever be lighted." This is a quote from the novel of the film. It serves as central theme and a rebuttal to all who preach against, attempt to doubt, and deny their passions.
After seeing the movie, one is left with a gnawing feeling to exploit one's unexpressed passions. Tita represents every person, in that she gives some credence to the ideas of society, as she obeys her mother carefully, staying in the kitchen cooking and working her butt off to please those around her. But by the end of the film she discovers that she must live to please herself as well. When she finally makes love to Pedro (the man of her dreams), and experiences the most intense climax in her life, it is when she realizes "she doesn't want to die." She wants more; she "wants to experience these emotions more times." This is what Arau and Esquivel, is saying it means to live and be alive. Like Water for Chocolate is a well done film. I recommend it without reservation to anyone who down for love and has the curiosity and imagination to see love portrayed in so many creative ways.
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