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.