Like Water For Chocolate Film Analysis

We commence with a child crying louder than normal. The screen is dark for 3 minutes. The audience then is rudely interrupted into a retrospective look into the past of the two nations. Gunner was the first man to set foot on Gondour, and established the patriarch. Sara was the first woman to set foot on Sunda and instituted the conventional matriarch.
Gondour was once unendurably filled with segregation, violence, class gaps, and poverty.
It succumbed to Neoliberalism. On the other hand Sunda had always been traditional and conventional in the sense the houses were haciendas similar to that of Mexican homes in “Like Water For Chocolate.” In this nation women and men were to exasperate inequality by taking part of actions such as dressing similar,
non-sexualizing women, and equal pay. After we are shown both worlds, cameras zoom out and then back in to this hospital that oddly falls between both nations. Families choose whether to return to their host nation after the birth of another family member or move to the other nation for the benefit of their gender. Sophia Moreno-Olmos was just born to the respected leader of the matriarch Gloria Moreno-Olmos and her husband Edwardo Olmos. However, they return to Sunda with the wrong child. We are introduced to the woman that is raised as Sophia, but actually isn’t. Mrs. Moreno-Olmos expected a problematic bringing up of her daughter, but it wasn’t nearly as hard as her own upbringing. Sophia learned from her mother how to be a politician. She loved school and was respected by her peers and colleagues but lacked true friendships. She was involved with every political extracurricular activity, because she wanted to exceed her mother’s expectations. On the other side of the hospital Samuel Castro raised Seina (the real Moreno-Olmos) in Gondour. Samuel had lost his wife during the delivery of their child and it changed him forever. Samuel was not a typical patriarchal male, but raised Seina alone, as she would be treated for the rest of her life in Gondour. She was told to complete all the chores at home, but Samuel also wanted her to have an education to decipher the world on her own. This was unheard of in Gondour, and many people criticized Samuel for these choices. At school, Seina pondered thoughts and developed new viewpoints that frightened the teachers of the patriarch. She had been asked to comply with extra schooling that individually focused on censoring these radical feminist thoughts. These thoughts were kept in a journal that she aggregated daily to keep her true identity, although it had to be hidden.

Act 2

Once both children reach an age of exploration, they both find themselves questioning the outside world.
Seina is more intrigued by Sunda because of her obligations and treatment from the men in Gondour. Seina refrains from acting upon her curiosity. Sophia enjoys her position in her household and society therefore she can’t imagine anything better. Sophia finds a spot on the beach where she can barely see land that she assumes is Sunda and is filmed watching the waves. She walks away; a raindrop falls on her eyelashes and a storm drenches Gondour. She decides that she is tired of waiting, and begins planning her secret voyage to Gondour. Sophia on the other hand longs for knowledge of the patriarch, but won’t leave. Once Seina finds maps of both worlds and the ideal spots to depart and arrive she sets out to sea. During this research she found others that are equally attracted by Sunda, therefore she leads them. Once she arrives with them she observes and creeps around, but adores how women in Sunda are dressed. She as well as other women in Gondour are asked to dress in clothes that sexualize their gender. Whereas, the Sundian women are all equally clothed in grey dresses that demonstrate egalitarianism. Everyone that came on the raft with Seina had dispersed because they had been in communication with natives. Seina is walking around after having clothed herself with the ordinary grey dress and stumbles upon a television set that is broadcasting her (unbeknownst to her) birth mother. She doesn’t know the woman, but recognized her. Sophia at the same time had been acting on some suspicions that she wasn’t her parents’ biological daughter. After examining her mother and father's characteristics for years, she went to a geneticist with hair from both to discover she wasn’t their daughter. Wrecked by this realization that she has attempted daily to become such a politically enriched woman, solely to impress someone who had no relation to her causes her to lose
herself. Sophia then packs all her belongings and runs out into the street to stumble into Seina. They stare at each other with such emotion and the camera is spinning around both of them to portray they mixture of what this switch has caused. Both nations are panicking because immigration has never been an issue. Sophia discovering these departure and arrival locations caused many more to follow her emigration. Effecting in both national leaders to call a meeting to resolve this treachery. President Patricio offers to build a wall in-between both nations in the ocean, but President Moreno-Olmos is completely opposed to this unearthly action.

Act 3

It begins with Seina and Sophia whispering to each other describing their parents and differences between both nations with a playful mood. After learning of the other nation they begin discussing what their plan of action is to resolve this separation between both nations. Seina instantly respects Sophia because of the tone she attains when she is speaking as if she were her mother, but decide to switch places. Sophia stays in the matriarch and Seina returns to her biological father in Gondour. Both agree on uniting both nations by not creating this wall, but creating a world that respects women, gives them power, and equal pay. Also a society that men contribute to society and leadership positions and acknowledge that women are equally or even more qualified to surpass expectations of ruling a country. After they agree on this task Sophia introduces Seina to her mother and the scene is filled with respect and love that her daughter has been raised in such an unalike world and had demonstrated characteristics similar to that of herself.
Sophia started walking away depressed in thought of her kin. She had never had anyone that was proud of her. Seina caught up to Sophia and realized they would need each other to be more of a force in Gondour. Sunda would be more easily convinced to form this utopia filled with equality and low stress levels.
They carefully left Sunda and set sail for Gondour, but had been caught in Gondour and placed in jail for treason, but Sophia being so commanding created a revolt in the prisons and after a couple hours got out to begin larger revolts, but had to run into setting aside her morals and kill men that were opposed of the movement and that’s how she finally gathered a small but plentiful group of women and men to blockade major roads of Gondour to force President Patricio to better solutions. His board of trustees thought this proposition would be more peaceful and not economically draining than separating both nations by an ocean wall. Men and women of both nations in the end grew thirsty for equality and wanted to desert the idea of gender roles and biases.