The sun in his palm *spoilers*

I had no sympathy or respect for Monica throughout the film. She disrespected her father, she used rough language, she was vulgar, she was definitely not my favorite character. She did though have somewhat high aspirations, like getting out from that 'bottom of the world' village, but still I didn't like her. She was just a spoiled girl who didn't have the necessary premise for being so.

But the sun in David's palm showed me that she had grown up and I started seeing her differently. It was useless to pretend that she believed in a continuity of their relationship, when it was obvious it had been just a fling. She was not so naive like the ladies begging the soldiers to take them to the States. She was well aware that the Americans couldn't help her, particularly, with nothing: when she started learning English with Andrei, she didn't do it for David, but for prospective possibilities that she might fetch thanks to the knowledge of the English language. She had been just a nice adventure, a nice memory in David's life, and that was how she was supposed to remain.

My degree of admiration for Monica went quite up after this proof of her maturity and awareness. And I liked that, indeed, she took her father's advice (whom I admired and respected throughout the whole film.. almost) and went to college.