Today in our course on immigration and cinema, the director of Flores de otro mundo, Iciar Bollain came to speak with the group and share with us not only the genesis of the movie but also general comments and anecdotes concerning the topic of immigration. the film made in 1998, maps the lives of three women who arrive in the fictitious pueblo of Santa Eulalia in a caravan, invited by the bachelors there.. As in many parts of rural Spain, as the director noted, the absence of women who all migrate to the cities is a common phenomenon.. the idea for the movie came in fact, from a popular newspaper piece on a said caravan loaded with about 40 women who were invited to some isolated town in the Pirineos..the director herself would later jump onto a caravan headed south and gather valuable documentation for what was later converted into a movie.. the movie looks at relationships in this small town, the complications which arise, the hopes which are dashed etc. What complicates the relationships even more is the presence of foreign migrant women- one Dominican and another brought from Cuba. We see not only "soft racism" but the problems which arise from cultural differences, different desires and interests etc. The Cuban, a vibrant 20 year old feels lost and alone in the middle of this empty, parched town where nightlife is practically limited to a bar where men gather to see football etc. The interesting perspective in this film could be its double focus on the women as active participants of migration and work etc and the men as victims in part.. Carmelo who has brought Milady from Cuba, and offers her love and economic happiness is deceived in the end and abandoned by Milady who escapes perhaps to meet her lover in Italy. The dominican also confesses that if it werent for her economic situation and the desire to give security and stability to her children, she would not have come to the pueblo and would not have hooked up with Damian..although she confesses that in the end, she loves him and wants to be with him..Many have approached the film with labels of immigration or the woman as the "double other"...but as the director herself notes...its more about parejas and the problems encountered.. although the other key factors already mentioned- migrant women etc..complicate the plot and add to the film´s particularity.
it was interesting to see the town´s reaction to the foreign women- exotic morenitas from the Caribbean..exotic jewels to display before the other envious and aging bachelors... of course, the town women feel threatened in their own way by these exotic women who threaten to ruin their stability and security.. while the men welcome them and hope to enjoy their exoticism...its strange to see all these mixes in the film- race, exoticism, the desperate condition of the men, the setting of a small isolated town and how all these unique elements lend itself to the debate on immigration, say, or even, relationships etc...
im interested on seeing how different the whole debate would be if there were also black male migrants in this little town and the reaction of its inhabitants...just corroborates how much individual factors- gender, demographics, stereotypes....influence and even dictate the way we understand this increasingly complicated phenomenon of immigration... i remember waiting for the metro one sunday evening in Madrid and this old, fresh guy- viejo verde par excellence! who was ogling all the women there...mostly immigrants and he looks at me and asks- i think- where i was from- and then, almost as if musing to himself...he marvels at the number of immigrants which crowd the streets and metro of Madrid, adding that he was delighted to have all the women from all over the world in Madrid, but the men no way! Guessing his intentions, i slowly eased my way away from him...not wanting to be too close to such characters which seem to abound in Madrid!, capital of Spain... just to close off, i remember a friend in Alcala who was recounting her experience in the supermarket where an old guy was going around, "pescando" foreign women and offering to marry them if they were interested in staying or living in Madrid..he approached both her and her Colombian friend...stories such as these abound... dont know if its only due to lack of companionship or if its the old Spaniard´s desire to live life to the fullest....any clue?
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