Did Juan's wife die? - Celda 211 (2009) Discussion

[–] PeterMarkoff 14 years ago

yes, there would be no point in lying about it

Peter Markoff
If you don't like my english, write it to me in my own language.

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[–] criseriksen 14 years ago

Except giving him a reason to get out of there without the other prisoners becoming suspicious!

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[–] therock525 14 years ago

That's exactly what I thought they were doing since the only scenes they showed of her in the hospital she was alive. Malamadre was about to let him out to talk to her on the when she was perfectly fine so it would be a good bet that he would let him out to talk to his wife who he saw get clubbed on TV. I though it would be one of those tragic endings where he died in the prison because he didn't care about living anymore and we would find out at the end that she was alive.

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[–] horrorshowmovie 14 years ago

it was a pretty bold move to show her in the hospital (seriously injured but alive) and then kill her offscreen

not sure I like it, but if it was supposed to surprise me, it definitely worked

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[–] awasserz 14 years ago

I did find it strange how they told him but I wonder if they didn't show her because it's the same way Juan experienced it, he only heard the news and didn't see any more than we did.

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[–] woodshoes 13 years ago

I thought they told the prisoners Elena died knowing that they would kill Utrilla. A pretty clean way to deal with a prison guard who attacked a pregnant civilian.

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[–] thebucketrider 14 years ago

On the other hand, a death was almost certain to elicit some kind of retaliation. After jamming the teevee signal to keep the inflammatory scenes from the prisoners, telling them the damage was even worse than it was seems incgruent.

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[–] luis6674 14 years ago

But if she was dead, why would they let him out? To go to the funeral? Could be, but I don't think they would lie to him in such a way that would make him mad being there. Too dangerous.

I believe she did die, no reason to think otherwise given the plot.

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[–] stephenyoxall 13 years ago

I disagree. There was a point in lying about it; to make Malamadre allow Juan to leave the prison to go and visit her. I half expected this to happen but it didn't, so she did die. But that will probably be how the American remake goes :p

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[–] Koko_BG 14 years ago

I think the director left it for us to decide whether she died or not.
When the guy was telling the news on the phone, the other two guys made some sort of signs and nods for him, and I'm not sure what they meant - if they wanted to lie to him, or they wanted to tell him the bad news. I've just deleted the movie, so I can' be sure what was it exactly. xD
But the hell was that pregnant woman thinking, walking around all these crazy rioting people and standing right in front of the fence, where she could be crushed at any time.

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[–] bogwart-1 14 years ago

No, he didn't, and yes, she died. Why make a mystery out of something when there's no good reason for it?

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[–] shurbanm 14 years ago

The bottom line is - this is not a documentary.
It is obvious that the director did not want to push this onto us as a fact. We are supposed to make our own determination. That is what makes the movie so great I think. It is ambiguous in many places.

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[–] zimka 13 years ago

The bottom line is that we are told that she died and there is no reason whatsoever to believe otherwise.

This is supported by the excellent execution of all characters in the movie. When the guard told the news to Juan, he looked at the others in the room and it was clear the entire burden of the decision was upon his shoulders. Quite obviously he wasn't building a strategy there. If he was, he'd understand that telling Juan his wife was dead would be an automatic death sentence to Utrilla.

It is also shown that all of the characters are people prone to making very human mistakes - leaving a guard in a prison cell during a calamity, showing up pregnant at the rioting prison, torturing a prisoner while under pressure, etc. The guard made a mistake of telling Juan his wife was dead, and it complicated the situation even further; but he couldn't do otherwise, as his character was already established as a sort of 'good cop', whose immediate emotions can go over cold assessment of the situation.

SPOILER AHEAD

But all of that is beside the point. As I wrote in the beginning, we are told point blank that the wife is dead. The ambiguity would be explainable if the movie went for a happy ending and left Juan alive, so that when he's out of the prison and heartbroken, the wife would appear to be alive in a surprising twist.

Alternatively, to add even more drama to the ending, we could have been actually SHOWN that she survived. That would create an entirely different understanding and emotional impact of the final 20 minutes.

But neither of these occurrences transpired. The narrative is straightforward and what we see and told is what we get.

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This is your life. It is ending one minute at a time.

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[–] smgiannouli 13 years ago

I was expecting her to be alive and to see her cry over his dead body. Seems she really died after all :(

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[–] 13 years ago

[deleted]

[–] lynseylinzlu 12 years ago

I totally thought she was gonna be alive, it was all said to get him out of the prison but then he took it serious and it was gonna end with him dead, her like sobbing over hearing the news. totally thought id worked out the ending!

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[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] lynseylinzlu 12 years ago

obviously i didnt mean it like they did it as a joke but as a way that they thought Malamadre would allow him to leave under the circumstances that his wife was dead.