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Do they leave it in God's hands or do they act? (spoiler)

posted 15 years ago by alexinou
7 replies | jump to latest

Hi,
From what I can remember, after her second operation, Camino's parents are advised to let her undergo radiotherapy where she is staying, in Madrid.
But instead, they take her to a religious clinic in Pamplona where they are told she should be operated a third time.

Comes the operation, they open her... and leave the room. And we don't see what happens next.
What is meant to have happened next?
- were they "preparing her" for the operation and after they left, it is supposed that surgeons entered the room to operate her?
- did they leave her there unattended by any medical staff and waited for "God's will" to occur, so God would decide what was to become of her?

How did you see this sequence?
Thank you.

[–] dragintaquat 15 years ago

Hello there, English is not my mother tongue but I hope that this helps. Prior to the surgery you tell about, the doctors tell the parents that Camino is going to be subjected to open radiotherapy, so they'll open her and then let the radiotherapy work. That's why the doctors leave the room. Of course it's a catholic clinic, but I think it would be naive to suppose that they open the girl and leave her waiting for God to do something.

Cheers.

[–] alexinou 15 years ago

Hola chusomen, gracias por tu respuesta.
I must admit I found it way to improbable that they would leave her unattended in the operating room, but Spanish not being my native language (:D) I didn't get the the radiotherapy was going to be "open".
Gracias otra vez, chusomen, tiene mucho sentido.

[–] brown_bear88 15 years ago

*************SPOILERS************
Sorry for my english. This is such an amazing movie. I've one question. In the final scene, when everybody is at Camino's room looking how she finally dies, there is a moment when the doctors look at each other and one of them like turns something off, and then they remove the plastic tube she has on her nose to help her breath. Why is that?

[–] betom64 15 years ago

i assume they killed her. Although just as everything in the movie, it's open for interpretation.

[–] shirley12vineyard 15 years ago

Shirzevor
I thought it was along the usual lines, of keeping 'life-support' for a certain time, but if actual organic death has occurred there's the free option of artificially maintaining life, or "turning the machine off". That thought's not particularly helpful here though, as immediately post-anaesthetic, cardio-respiratory assistance would tend to be the norm. That's why we have ICUs in our hospitals. (Intensive Care Units)

[–] jose-serralvo 14 years ago

Hi Brown_Bear,

Before she dies the mother and the priest do have a conversation about whether "they could help God to create a saint or not". The priests thinks that Camino is in a very good position to become a saint, and when the mother tells him that to become a saint is in God's hand, the priest hints at the possibility of "helping".

Then at the end they said that she died on the 26th June, as she had promised, and that this was the same day of the death of "José María". Here they refer to "José María Escrivá" who founded Opus Dei.

I think it's possible to understand (at least I have understood it this way) thay they decide to stop keeping her alive artificially so that everything is perfect: they day of the dead, the exact moment with all the priests and staff present, etc. So that might explain why the doctor stops feeding her with air.

[–] LusitanWanderer 13 years ago

He turned down the oxygen flow because there was simply no need in forcing O2 into her lungs anymore (no benefits whatsoever) since she was ready to go (that way they were promoting comfort - the right thing to do).
They turned the O2 volume to 0 and then removed the nasal cannula.

La jeunesse sait ce qu'elle ne veut pas avant de savoir ce qu'elle veut