Did anyone else get the sense that basically the entire plot of this movie is a reiteration of the biblical story of Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ?
I think it's pretty obvious even beyond the protagonist being named Maria but I haven't seen anyone mention this.
Not at all,I actually know some of the people who worked on that film, from what i heard it was based on an actual testimony that was told to the director
shareWow, very interesting interpretation!
shareIt's based on actual events and it's unfortunately a common issue around here, so no.
shareUmm no.. not at all.
shareMy opinion is that it is NOT. That scene with drunk Pepe was no Immaculate Conception!
shareSorry, the immaculate conception has got nothing to do with Jesus. The Immaculate Conception, according to the teaching of the Catholic Church, is the conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary free from original sin.
Nali*
My list: http://www.imdb.com/list/ls066656748/?start=1&view=grid&sort=created:desc&defaults=1&lists=
OP here. Just to clarify, I am in no way suggesting that the story of the film was conceived based solely on a biblical story.
I'm simply wondering if anybody else got the impression that the overarching story of the film is an allusion to Virgin Mary, and the fact it was inspired by the actual life of a Guatemalan girl doesn't necessarily contradict that (a fimmaker technically can do whatever they want with their story even if it originally comes from real life).
An IMDb trivia for this movie reads:
The film's narrative structure has a lot of similarities to the biblical story of Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ: A girl named Maria loses her virginity to a holy entity (she is seen masturbating with a tree in the mountain), gets pregnant but loses the child, and then finds the child's body missing from the grave - perhaps a self-reference to the mixture of indigenous nature-worshipping beliefs and Catholicism in the Mayan culture depicted in the movie itself.
The tree scene is an exploration of her womanhood and sexuality not a binding with the holy spirit. If anything, I think the film is trying to deconstruct those narratives and the characters have a rather practical stance of religious beliefs. For example, the mother is diligent about offerings to the volcano but tells the shaman to shut up when he tries to heal Maria's snake bite with prayers.
I feel like the 'allusion' is that the Virgin Mary story is most likely based on a real-life situation like this. As they say it's a story as old as time. The so-called 'Virgin Mary' was probably like the Maria in this film (unwed and pregnant), only her parents were able to marry her off in time.