Snake / Girl
I don't quite understand the scene with the snake and the girl. I missed the first few minutes, but why was it in her and what did it really have to do with anything?
share****SPOILER****
OK, so I think what happens is a man told the 2 sisters(?) if they slept with him he would find them rich American husbands. Out of guilt, some weeks later, one of the girls imagines she has "something squirming" inside her.
I *think* what happens is the witch/healer locates a snake and pretends to pull it out of her to rid her of the guilt, by casting out the snake. But I'd love to hear someone else's take on it.
The scene I believe is to show how "primitive" and "superstitious" these people were, well into the 20th century--relying on magic, believing people had spells cast on them, etc. (I saw that myself in the summer 2007 when I visited a city in Italy where thousands of people had lived *in caves* until the 1950s)
As I said in another post I think that there was a certain amount of "magical realism" used in this film. There were other instances. . . the coins from heaven. . .the big carrots.. . . the characters swimming in milk, for example.
Magical realism is used in a lot of international film.