MovieChat Forums > Palmeras en la nieve (2015) Discussion > Clarification Needed

Clarification Needed

posted 8 years ago by brandywine-31771
12 replies | jump to latest

Because of the way the movie was written (several flashbacks) it was very hard to keep up with some things. If anyone can shed light on these questions I'd appreciate it!

1. The opening scene when Killian leaves Bisila (before we know their names) and he tears the picture in two... Was that after the rape, after Killian couldn't get Bisila and the children off the island? Because Bisila looks very young in that portion of the movie, but it's hard to tell when that was as they didn't revisit it at the end of the movie.

2. Why on earth did Bisila walk into the sea and drown herself? I mean after all this time without Killian, his death shouldn't have effected her to the point of suicide. UNLESSS that portion of the movie where the two of them perform a ritual wedding on the beach. In some African heritages, if a woman's husband dies, his head wife must die and go with him to tend to him after death. And since Bisilia considered her marriage to Mosi obligatory and her marriage to Killian for love, she may have opted to go with Killian to death.

3. Why, if anyone knows, didn't Killian send for Bisila and the children? I guess perhaps the human rights of the folks under the new republic of Guinea didn't allow for the children to leave and Bisila wasn't leaving her kids. I don't blame her.

4. What was the deal with "old" Julia? She was acting as if she somehow would be hurt by the past. The secret letter and pictures, etc. They had nothing really to do with her except she had once loved Jocobo, but she married Manuel... so why was she even there as she wasn't family?

5. Killians white wife was awfully quiet and absent in the movie. And did not Killian have other children with his white wife?

6.Clarence's behavior was odd the entire movie. As neice and not daughter - digging around to find the truth was a bit odd. She was concerned about tasking care of these "other people" after her father died. So again, didn't Killian have any other children?

And she basically had sex with her cousin. She let this rude guy push her around and then drag her through the jungle and then strips and gives him sex in the waterfall. Very unrealistic.

[–] 8 years ago

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[–] clawofjudgement 8 years ago

I've only seen the movie once, but from my point of view it appeared that Clarence thinks Julia is her mom? The scene where Clarence was replacing Manuel's picture with Jocobo and such.

Why I really don't understand is why Bisila and the kids didn't come up as soon as they could. They knew where Killian lived and never stopped contact with the money grams and etters. So why not move as soon as the laws were relaxed? o.o

[–] 8 years ago

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[–] andreeaus 8 years ago

For the simple reason that she was a Bubi and Bubies were the minority which was the most opresed by the dictatorial regime instituted in Guinea in those years. From 300 000 people, 80 000 were killed during the regime of Macías Nguem, the majority of these being Bubi. The country as called "the Auschwitz of Africa" during his reign. The guy was killing people just because they were spectacles (he was intimidated by people with education), imagine what would have happened to a woman trying to emigrate to Spain... And the guy who deposed and killed him is no better.

Not only, but Guinea Ecuatorial has one of the worst human rights records in the world. Nowadays. Imagine how it was 35 years ago, if women still have to deal in the present with traditions that allow them being, simply put, sold into marriages.

[–] trafficcowgirl 8 years ago

Here's my take on the film and questions. I really liked it but I did some reading just after Julia started to talk about the island and people thanks to Wikipedia and other sources.
4. Julia seemed to be so close she was like family. And she may of had feelings for Jacobo, but she seemed like a sister to Killian.

5. A check of the family tree shows that Killian and Jacobo had one daughter each---except for Fernando LaLa. He is either Jacobo's or Killian's son. I thought it would show up on the tree at the end but did not see his name---I found that very odd, but this is ambiguous and so maybe that is why there is a blank.

6.Clarence interest to travel there was not surprising, as she wanted to learn more about why there was a woman w/ children receiving payments. Her dad was born on the island, and GF was buried there. Genealogy is fascinating.

She didn't have sex with a blood cousin, and it his rudeness can be explained. It was a reaction to anti-colonization and other terrible rulers not just Spain. For instance, there was a ruler in the 1970's, mined the road off the island /ferry and wouldn't allow residents to leave--he was compared to Pol Pot in Cambodia (see The Killing Fields).

My head scratcher is Basila's apparent drowning on the new's of Killian's death? It showed the family tree at the end, and Killian's date of death is still unlisted or empty--just like at the around the first few minutes into the movie.

[–] CranberriAppl 8 years ago

1.I missed that scene the first time I watched it, but on second viewing, I realized that was after their ceremony on the beach when they realized they wouldn't be able to stay together. Also if you look at Bisila's hair, it's shorter braids, so that's after the rape/Mosi's death, and whatever time has passed since the child was born.

2.I guess she realized after she shared her story with her sons, and was now "free."

4. I didn't understand old Julia. After her early scenes, I assumed that she eventually left Manuel (although he seemed quite nice and honorable vs. Jacobo), but the family tree shows that Clarence's mother is named Carmen, I think? I read an article on the movie that called her Clarence's mother. Wonder where her sons were, bc they should be around the same ages as Iniko and Fernando.

5. The family tree shows that Kilian's wife passed away in '85, and the present of the movie is supposed to be 2003. I wonder if she knew or how she felt about Bisila. I know Daniela (the daughter's name) was probably a popular Spanish name, but it was also Bilisa's colonial name.

6. I think she was just the more curious of the two, and based on Daniela's lines, she seemed to be a bit overwhelmed with trying to understand her father's dwelling in the past. Part of me felt like they were also using Clarence to atone for her father. I don't know that for sure, but it's a feeling I had watching the second time.

I expected the family tree to be filled in at the end, but I guess they wanted us to not be sure of the youngest's parentage, and to believe that Kilian's love for Bisila would translate into loving two boys that weren't his.

I'm going to have to read the book once I can get my hands on it.

Im gonna cut this wire&leave the bldg.Then&only then are you going to stand up. Am I clear?- Mrs S

[–] leagil 8 years ago

1. The opening scene was after the rape and after the beach marriage ceremony between Bisilia and Killian; it was due to the Macias order for all Spaniards to leave the island. It is assumed that Bisilia and her children were unable to exit the country. I wondered if it meant for the next 40 years specific minorities were never able to leave, therefore they were never able to see each other again.
2. I assumed that Bisilia's beliefs were to wait and be faithful to her husband. Killian obviously married again since heads daughter Daniela named after Bisilia, but he promised to never abandon Bisilia, hence the support monies over the years.
4. I assumed that Julia and her husband Manuel returned to Spain and Manuel wrote the letter that Clarence was reading. Julia did react oddly but I thought it was due to her loving the island and the people there and watching the horrors when they manage to escape. She knew about the rape and just couldn't talk about it.
Clarence had sex with Iniko who was Basilia's chills wither first husband Mosi. Jacobo shot andkilledMosi.
Laha asked his,on if Killian was his father and she shook her head no. Killian had stayed in Spain when Jacobo and his 2 friends raped Bisilia. We are to assume Laha wasaproduct of the rape, which means it was one of those 3 men who was the father.
It was implied that Jacobo and Killian lived in Spain and married other women, but made sure the money was always sent to Bisilia. I assumed because Killian loved her but Jacobo did it out of guilt.
When Clarence put the picture of her father and Julia together, it was out of the realization that these two loved each other but due to her father's inability to express his true feelings and get over his own arrogance Julia gave up and found solace with another.

I had 2 questions.......
When Killian returned after his first night with Sade (prostitute) he heard noises in the next room which someone said "join us" and someone making a loud noise...I wondered if it was supposed to be Jacobo and his pals roughing up a girl; which might have set the stage he felt those women were of no value and he could treat them so poorly.
Also, I assumed when Clarence bumped into Mama Sade many years later they said her son was from white man that left her, which could have meant Killian.
I loved the movie and the scenic beauty. I would love to rwadanEnglishversion of the book some day. It might clarify some things for me.

[–] leagil 8 years ago

1. The opening scene was after the rape and after the beach marriage ceremony between Bisilia and Killian; it was due to the Macias order for all Spaniards to leave the island. It is assumed that Bisilia and her children were unable to exit the country. I wondered if it meant for the next 40 years specific minorities were never able to leave, therefore they were never able to see each other again.
2. I assumed that Bisilia's beliefs were to wait and be faithful to her husband. Killian obviously married again since his daughter Daniela named after Bisilia, but he promised to never abandon Bisilia, hence the support monies over the years.
4. I assumed that Julia and her husband Manuel returned to Spain and Manuel wrote the letter that Clarence was reading. Julia did react oddly but I thought it was due to her loving the island and the people there and watching the horrors when they manage to escape. She knew about the rape and just couldn't talk about it.
Clarence had sex with Iniko who was Basilia's child with her first husband Mosi. Jacobo shot and killed Mosi.
Laha asked his mom if Killian was his father and she shook her head no. Killian had stayed in Spain when Jacobo and his 2 friends raped Bisilia. We are to assume Laha was a product of the rape, which means it was one of those 3 men who was the father.
It was implied that Jacobo and Killian lived in Spain and married other women, but made sure the money was always sent to Bisilia. I assumed because Killian loved her but Jacobo did it out of guilt.
When Clarence put the picture of her father and Julia together, it was out of the realization that these two loved each other but due to her father's inability to express his true feelings and get over his own arrogance Julia gave up and found solace with another.

I had 2 questions.......
When Killian returned after his first night with Sade (prostitute) he heard noises in the next room which someone said "join us" and someone making a loud noise...I wondered if it was supposed to be Jacobo and his pals roughing up a girl; which might have set the stage he felt those women were of no value and he could treat them so poorly.
Also, I assumed when Clarence bumped into Mama Sade many years later they said her son was from white man that left her, which could have meant Killian.
I loved the movie and the scenic beauty. I would love to rwadanEnglishversion of the book some day. It might clarify some things for me.

[–] leagil 8 years ago

I also wondered why the spoke some English here and there?
Killian was practicing to say hew asthenosphere in Bubi but then he says "work, work."
Also the first time Killian hears the workers singing, the song has English words..."I remember you...I say myself."
When The truck breaks down, Killian tells the workers..."you,you,you this...you,you,you.that."
I wondered if the Bubi knewEnglish?
That seemed different.

[–] beck0974 8 years ago

There were Nigerians working with them and at the time it was a British colony. The people from Nigeria spoke English (or a hybrid of English and their native language). To me, it's a callback to Jacobo saying Kilian wouldn't be able to tell the Africans apart. Obviously, Kilian could.

The Bubi spoke Spanish and their own language.

I'm here....

[–] President_Bosch 7 years ago

2. Why on earth did Bisila walk into the sea and drown herself? I mean after all this time without Killian, his death shouldn't have effected her to the point of suicide. UNLESSS that portion of the movie where the two of them perform a ritual wedding on the beach. In some African heritages, if a woman's husband dies, his head wife must die and go with him to tend to him after death. And since Bisilia considered her marriage to Mosi obligatory and her marriage to Killian for love, she may have opted to go with Killian to death.

Killian died? I've seen this movie few times and I didn't see anything indicating that he did.

[–] daz-75206 7 years ago

I think Julia was there for Jocobos funeral, she didn't want to be the one to tell Clarence about her fathers past. I think the baby was Jococbos from the rape & that would make the baby Clarences half brother. Bisila knew that & that's why she had been expecting them one day. I think Bisisla drowned herself in the end so that her boys would have no reason to come back to the island, she was making them free to stay in Spain with Clarence. I don't think Killian died in the end of the movie. Perhaps the letter was from Clarence as Killian was incapable of writing himself? Killian told her he would always take care of her, she knew that he would return & possibly marry, she wanted him to give her his heart, no matter where his future led, she knew they couldn't stay together in a physical sense.