I just wondered what other people thought of the ending since I saw it alone. Do you think they shut the "Gringo" back in jail? Killed him? (and what exactly was he doing, wandering aruond Peru? on vacation with his Polaroid camera? and do the indigenous people really call people from the big city of Lima "gringos"?
Although there was no really likeable character in the movie, I have to admit I was rooting for the Gringo, though his behavior wasn't any better than anyone else's.
Warning: spoilers
I didn't like the ending at first but then later, when I thought about it, it seemed ok. Think of it a bit like fable. he was the key to the outside world, but did she really need a key? No, she could do it herself. She came of age, in that sense, no longer a child that accepted decisions made for her. Should he have got to go with her to Lima? Considering she was only fourteen, what's that make him?
Also, considering it in the light of pagan religions, even ones that have adopted Christian nomenclature, the stranger is usually the sacrificial victim and/or the king, and this way it is very Wicker-Man -ish.
[deleted]
the indigenous and the brunnette people from Lima and other providences call white peruvians gringo
shareAnd the gringos call dark skinned people "cholos." I read in one of the novels of Jaime Bayly that light-skinned Peruvians consider that the cities belong to them, and that the indigenous people should stay in the mountains.
shareI think that obviously they linched him.Even though the time was already over,the justice in these small towns is made by the decision of the majority and they had enough "argument" to kill him. What was he doing there? As far as I remember he was on his way to another town for some job.I consider that not only in Peru but in Latin America the indigenous people consider those who look similar to americans "gringos" even though they are people from the same country or city. The only guy that "behaved" in that movie was the old man who was acting as a clock!!
shareI think the gringo was a journalist. He had a camera and a tape recorder. Maybe, I'm wrong.
shareThe Gringo (Salvador) said his job. He was a geologist.
"Have a Romy & Michelle day!"
The scene when both sisters start screaming that the Gringo killed their dad gave me the creeps. Claudia Llosa got the point of tradition, race, loyalty, family and culture in general. They both found a scapegoat and used him. The lesson Llosa gives us is quite simple: if you're alone or try to steer away from your traditions, you'll be dead.
Bravo, Ms. Llosa.
Javier H. Moreno
www.cacaorock.com
that surprised me that Madinusa kinda just screwed over the guy that was trying to help her.
shareMy take on that is that she did it because the Holy Time had just ended. Presumably God was back at the switch and would want to understand what had transpired during His slumber. Anyway, whether she was trying to ward off divine or human justice, he was a convenient fall guy. What greater help could he render? :P
shareMadeinusa was probably sick of being used by men. Her father was just waiting for the Tiempo Santo to rape the fourteen-year old. And what did he do to deserve her acquiescence? He destroyed her most precious possession, her mother's earrings. He was probably a loutish brute of a husband to have compelled his wife to leave him and their daughters. Men want it both ways. They want their lovely little girls to be virgins (a virgin beauty contest!) and yet they want to ravish them. Disgusting. As the film "Deliverance" taught us so many years ago, leave the rustic to the rustic and get back to the big city, pronto!
shareShe was discovered by her sister--who bathed her, cooked with her, lived with her, and was a representation of the rest of the town.
If her sister had known that she poisoned him, both her and the Gringo would have gotten killed. She just needed to get away from her father, one way or another. Once she found the initiative to get away from him, by killing him herself, she didn't have to rely on the Gringo to do it for her by taking her away.
Besides, she clearly wanted to look like an angel (or virgin) to the rest of the town....the stranger is always suspected and blamed for everything, since--theoretically--the only two variables amiss came together: the stranger, and the death.
It made complete sense that she would pick old traditions over new (the whole fairy tale thing is a figment of the post-industrial western imagination).
It made perfect sense--she just wanted to get out, by what ever means necessary.
It's like the anti-fairy tale.
I figure they killed him.
Great ending when BOTH girls started shouting that the 'gringo' killed their father.
-Just like a woman!
I also thought this movie was REALLY cool to watch because it was so colorful. It felt like i took a bit of acid.
Grade: A-.
Did not like the ending. Just seemed to be weak, inconclusive and poorly edited and put together.
Why didn't the gringo just run out of the village when they starting accusing him?
He couldn't run anywhere; as they had said in the beginning, and as you could see from the scenery, they lived in a very wild place, not within walking distance of anything, no phones, no nothing. They also knew the truck was coming, so that couldn't do either.
And as for the people wondering what the gringo's doing there: at the beginning he says he's heading for a mining site past the village, but the road is flooded. So he works in a mine (geologist, miner?), and he's stuck there while trying to reach the mine because going by foot would be a suicide.
If you consider it as an allegory like the rest of the movie, the mining site could represent gold (the mythical el dorado past the mountains), the same gold that many conquerors came seeking and in the end never found.
SPOILERS AHEAD - A L O T of S P O I L E R S
Is because of movies like this that I love spoilers :)
Simple: If there is a topic called "end", you can be sure
that something went wrong in the end of the movie.
Or the end is against what is expected (not twist)or the director had to answer a phone call and let someone else finish the film for him ;)
When reading a spoiler, we can decide whether or not to lose 90 minutes of our lives. Or maybe watch another better movie.
It may even be in another language with subtitles, provided it is well finished.
Unfortunatelly this movie had a FEW spoilers and I lost my time, but I'm trying to save yours.
This week I watched two wonderful movies made outside Hollywood's industry :
"Nueve Reinas" which is Argentine and "Le Nom des Gents" which is French...
The end :
1.The aunt told the father that Mary was a virgin no more.
He realizes that may have been the Gringo. What does he do against the Gringo ? Nothing.
2.Madeinusa's sister, told the Gringo, that she tried to buy one red shoe and walked to a nearby village and used the phone, so there is a place to escape.
3.The Gringo, must surely have fled.
4.The people of the village, was the biggest hangover, and it was still raining.
5.Gringo could intercept the bus of "El Mudo" on the way back or even Kill madeinusa and her sister. (better than being killed unjustly).
Hey Could someone believe that he was killed ? why ?
Madeinusa is a stupid girl: Abandoned by her mother, abused by his sister, sexual abused by her father and obsessed with get away and go to LIMA.
When she had an opportunity to escape, what did she do ?
Went Back to get the earrings and kill her father...
This is insane.
She is insane.
Gringo waiting in the woods was still more insane.
The time I've lost absolutely insane.
Anyway, as a consolation, the movie has good actors, beautiful sets and costumes, a great history with a disappointing ending.