El Viaje de Carol
Michael Kennedy


Even though I could not understand a damn word in this film I was still able to understand
the storyline. Carol is a young girl who is new to Spain, the birthplace of her mother, and to the
family members she does not know. We get a sense that she does not feel all that comfortable
in this situation. Her first encounter with Tomiche was not such a good one as she witnesses
him killing a bird and proceeds to throw something at him in disgust. I would have liked to have
known what they said to each other but I have a feeling the words said were most likely not so
friendly. Tomiche and his friends come across Carol by herself and Tomiche steals her hat only
to give it back to her at the gravesite. I think this was a kind gesture on his part given the
situation Carol was in now. Her father was away at war and her mother has just passed away.
She only had her grandfather that she could relate with and even that relationship was
jeopardized because Carol was forced to move in with who we would assume is her aunt.
She wasn’t the nicest of people and Carol was not very fond of her. Carol was scorned by her
aunt after coming home late and were sent to their room. Carol has a love interest, that being
Tomiche and she wanted to spend time with him and not her family so at every chance she was
away with him. Her attitude was basically to do as she pleased. Because of the lack of dialogue
in English I was not sure who was and wasn’t family as far as the men in the scenes goes. But I
do know one of them is was involved with the revolution that was taking place. Carol did what
she could to keep in contact with her father with the help of the village teacher Aurora. Just
getting the mail delivered was a chore in itself. You had to pay if you wanted your mail
delivered. There must not have been a very dependent postal system or the government was
quite restrictive to what could and couldn’t be sent via mail. Carol is at risk of getting in trouble
with the government if she gets caught. Carol’s father realizes that Carol is not happy with
the situation she is in. She writes him because she feels all alone in this country she does not
know. Her father takes the risk of being killed and goes AWOL from his unit. He has realized
that being with his daughter is what really matters now. His wife is dead and Carol only has
her grandfather to depend on. Carol’s father decides that being with his daughter is what is
most important. You could say that Carol maybe inspired her father to make his way back home
to her. This is where I think that her American background may have interfered with what was
going on at that time in Spain. “Yankees” were not very well liked for obvious reasons.
Carol’s distant family was unsure of her, at least that is how I saw it. It was almost like they
were afraid to show Carol an emotion or love. They seemed to have a certain “air” about them
as if Carol was not good enough to be part of their family. Maybe because she was an American
this caused some concern. Her father was an American so what kind of an American was Carol?
Could this interfere with the relationships, or the lack there of, between Carol and her
newfound Spanish family? Why are they so distant towards her? To make matters worse Carol’s
best friend Tomiche is murdered accidently. This causes an even bigger rift between Carol and
her family. We are to assume her father was captured after the incident and imprisoned. What
was to come of Carol then? How could her relationship grow with everything that has
happened? Her being an American makes it very hard to adapt to the new culture because of all
the events that have led to this point. I’m sure she is ready to return to the states after
everything that has happened.

Volver Michael Kennedy

Volver is a film that involves a family of women who have family issues that each woman
has to deal with their own way. There are some secrets that are made known that changes
each woman’s perspective. In the opening scene we see the family cleaning off the grave
stone of their departed family member Irene who was mother to Raimunda and Sole and aunt
to Raimunda’s daughter Paula. We see them working together closely at the gravesite assuming
all is well within the family. Being from a Hispanic culture families tend to be quite close. But as
in any family there can be tension. After the girls visit the gravesite they stop and see their Aunt
Paula. She seems to take to Raimunda but not Sole so much. There is tension between them
and we are not sure why. Being from a hot climate culture you would not think there would be
such tension. She only got a little smooch while the other received many. The body language
says it all in this scene and was somewhat comical. It isn’t till later we know why this is so.
Raimunda’s daughter goes through a traumatic event with her (who we assumed was) father.
He is found dead on the kitchen floor after attacking Paula and trying to rape her. Both women,
Raimunda and her daughter pull together and take care of the situation. Raimunda does what
she has too to protect her daughter. Raimunda eventually has other friends and family
unknowingly help her dispose of the body and bury him by the river.
Agustina continues to have doubts about what really happened to her hippie mother. She was
one to stand out in the crowd and for no one to know where she had gone was puzzling to her.
There was talk between the women that if there was something that needed to be done or
something that was too important to be dismissed that the dead could be seen by other family
members that were involved. Sole did not like this talk and it scared her to think of the ghostly
figures being in her presence. Agustina was a neighbor of Aunt Paula and she confessed to
Sole that she had heard Paula talking to the ghost of Sole’s mother Irene. Sole encounters the
ghost herself, and when she returns to Madrid, she discovers that the ghost has stowed away
in the trunk of her car and has brought luggage! Sole is somewhat frightened in the beginning
but soon becomes comfortable with her being there. Sole tries to determine why her mother
has returned to earth, asking her if there was anything she had left undone in her life. This is
when the story gets interesting. Irene does say that she has issues she needs to resolve relating
to the questions of why Raimunda hates her and why she is afraid to reveal herself.
After Agustina is diagnosed with cancer she is visited in the hospital by Raimunda and asked
if she had seen her dead mother’s ghost. She was hoping that the ghost would help her know
fate of her mother before she herself dies. Raimunda has not but soon the truth becomes
known of Agustina’s mother. When visiting Sole’s home Raimunda is made aware that her
mother’s ghost is in fact in the other room watching T.V. with her Paula her daughter. At first
she was angry, confused and a little frightened as she left her sister’s home but is soon
convinced by Paula to return and talk to her mother. Irene explained to Raimunda that she was
furious with herself when she found out what her father was doing to her. She also explained
that because of the abuse and the fact that he was having an affair with Agustina’s mother
she set fire to their hut killing them both.
Irene eventually reveals herself to Agustina, who believes her to be a ghost. Irene then pledges
to stay in the village and care for Agustina as her cancer worsens. She tells Raimunda that this
the least she could do after killing her mother.
Volver is a film that was able to show how family, and women in particular, are able to
rebound after adversity. There are actually two stories within this one family that are quite
similar. In the end both women prevail and both men end up dead. The women did what they
felt they had to do to survive even though what they did was wrong. This was their way of
getting retribution for what was done to them. In my opinion this would have to be one of the
real life aspects of the film. These women had to do what they felt they had too to survive even
though it may have been against the law.

Guantanamera
Michael Kennedy

As the film opens we see Aunt Yoyita and Georgina riding in a car down the streets of
Guantanamo. Yoyita can’t believe how things have changed. The buildings all have a
“run-down” look to them. The town and its people do not seem to be doing very well. Times
appear rough for Guantanamo and all of Cuba for that matter during the 1990’s. Cuba’s belts
had to be tightened quite a bit after the fall of the Soviet Union. Cuba had relied heavily on
the Soviet Union for imported goods. This had sent Cuba into a major rapid depression. The
embargo on goods coming from the U.S. were restricted as well making the times even worse.
In the film we see the lack of food and the limited amount of gas that was allowed. There are
a few times we see Tony hiding away bananas to most likely eventually sell or give to family.
There is no shortage of rum, coffee or tea because at each stop all of these are being consumed
by the patrons. Cuba exports all of these items so they are in abundance as well are cigars. Food
on the other hand is rationed by the government. At one stop Aldolfo even asks “Do you have
Food?” Most places they stopped did not have anything to eat – only drinks. There was scene
where at a funeral a man complained that he did not get his “snack” as promised in the cost
of the funeral. There were others too wanting their snack as well. And before you knew it
people were grabbing what they could get a hold of to eat. This was the filmmaker’s way of
showing how bad things really were that people would fight over such a simple thing.
As we all know Aldolfo is trying to make himself known for organizing a system for transporting
corpses across the island as a means of saving petrol. At one point in the film we see people
bowing to a statue and Aldolfo imagines himself on top of the pedestal as people praise him.
It’s no doubt he seeks to be well recognized for his efforts and he gets all upset when his
convoy gets behind schedule. Aldolfo wants this system to work because in the governments
eyes he will be a hero because he is able to save petrol. As their little convoy reaches a new
destination we see many people lining the streets needing rides to different towns. This is a
sign of the times. Many people do not own a car and cannot get from place to place without
waiting on the side of the road for vehicles to pass that may offer them a ride. As it turns out
Mariano and his truck are on the same route as Aldolfo and Gina. As he stops too many people
climb into his truck to obtain a ride to whatever town may be on their route. Petrol and many
other items are not in abundance any longer and people are doing what they can to get by.
Mariano is a graduated engineer and is working as a truck driver because there are no jobs.
he apparently is doing well though making enough money to survive. Even though times were
bad people seemed to try and help one another. Being a hot climate culture this was what
they had to do to get by.
As each vehicle is en route music is usually on. The style of music is mostly mambo or salsa that
we can hear. In the film Candido had asked to turn off the music because it was not
appropriate to listen to “celebration” music at a time like this being it was a funeral procession.
As the film progresses we see glimpses of a little girl that was in a photo early on in the film.
Only Candido saw the girl at first. Who was this girl? At the end of the film we see her again at
the cemetery as Aldolfo stands upon a stone to give a speech for the deceased Candido and
Yoyita (well- it was supposed to be Yoyita anyway). We see the little girl walking up to the
crowd and then looks up and opens her umbrella. It then begins to pour down rain. Everyone
scatters and Aldolfo loses grip of the speech and starts to yell at everyone as they are leaving
that he was not done with his speech. Gina is seen meeting up with Mariano and them riding
off. I feel the little girl in the film represents Iku’. Everything is now in place. The deceased are
now at peace; Gina has left with the man who loves her; and Aldolfo is left standing alone
because he only really cared about himself in the first place.

The Official Story

Michael Kennedy

The year was 1983 and Argentina was again under civilian rule after a brutal rule by the
state. In the 1970’s there was what was called the Dirty War going on. Leftists were more or
less at war with the state and during this time many people were persecuted against. The term
“Dirty” meant just that. As a means to deter people who were against the state, tactics were
used to strike fear into those who did not abide by the states laws. People were raped and
tortured as a means of keeping social order. We learn this first hand when Alicia and Anna are
reminiscing while having a few adult beverages. At one point Anna describes to Alicia that she
tortured by the state because she lived with whom the state deemed a “subversive” man.
Anna said that she would have raped too but there was one military person who wanted her all
for himself. Luckily for her that day never came. Anna states that when she heard screams she
was unsure if it was her or someone else screaming. I would have to think that Anna felt like
her situation was hopeless. Many other women were being persecuted against as well.
Alicia, as well as other members of the Argentinean middle class, were not aware of how much
killing and suffering has gone on in the country until her students began to complain that the
“government approved” History books that were given to them were not exactly correct. As
Alicia starts to investigate further the validity of what her friend Anna had told her about the
persecution of thousands of people who are now missing. Alicia goes downtown and sees
people protesting against the state wanting to know where their loved ones are. For these
family members there may have been hope – the hope of seeing their loved ones again. We
see many pictures on signs of those who are missing. Alicia befriends a woman in a hospital as
she was trying to find evidence/documentation of her adopted child’s birth. But no one is of
any help. So they decide to help each other in their quest to find information about their loved
ones. They are both hopeful that with each other’s help they will find what they are looking for.
But as time goes on Alicia’s friend becomes suspicious of her and we see her and two other
friends watching Alicia picking up Gaby from school. Alicia has to be thinking “What is going on
here?” Why are they looking at me like that? Now that Alicia knows that many women had
babies and were never seen again. Alicia wants to know “who” this child’s birth mother was and
where is she? Alicia is forced to confront her husband Roberto about how this child
was obtained. Roberto avoids Alicia’s attempts to know what exactly happened the day Gaby
came home. Alicia at this point becomes very worried that something is not right.
Alicia had met a woman in a café who might possibly be Gaby’s maternal grandmother. The
timeline of the woman’s daughter gone missing and Gaby’s birth coincide. Alicia begins to cry
because she knows now that Gaby was most likely taken from her mother and then murdered.
Feelings of hopelessness come over Alicia at this point. She is in fear of losing her adopted
daughter because she knows the truth. This becomes most evident when Roberto meets the
woman who is most likely Gaby’s grandmother and he wants her out of the house. Soon after
Roberto learns Gaby is not in her room. He wants to know where she is. As a lesson to Roberto
Alicia says to Roberto “How do you like not knowing where your child is?” He becomes violent
and starts to bang Alicia’s head into the door frame and crushes her hand in the door. His true
colors are now known. Alicia knows now that Roberto had brought home a child from one
whom was persecuted against. Roberto is the one now who is feeling hopeless. Not only is
he going to lose Gaby but probably Alicia too.
The ending of the film has some irony to it. When Alicia was a child she lost her parents to
a car accident unbeknownst to her because her grandparents never told her. But every day she
would sit on the porch and sit in a rocking chair waiting for them to arrive. They never came.
We have to wonder, “who” is Gaby waiting for as she rocks in her chair on the porch? I feel
There is hope for Gaby because no matter where she ends up she will have loving family to
take care of her. But there has to be feelings of hopelessness on the women’s part too because
one of them will be without Gaby.