Nicoson 4
European girlfriend. The two females are shocked to meet one another, as neither could fathom that the other had even existed. Fatima is shocked not only by the girlfriend, but by her apparent inability to ever be fully dressed. I felt this contrast was done especially well, as the audience doesn’t even see Fatima’s hair throughout the entire movie, yet we are introduced to this lanky blonde in nothing but underwear and a tee, which turns out to be her wardrobe through most of her debut. Loza’s depiction of this woman through Fatima’s eyes was a priceless addition to the film. In the end Fatima and her father make their way back to Morocco where he will be forced to make a decision. The prevailing similarity in these stories is the foreboding body of water separating father from family. Each child has a unique relationship with his or her father. Priscilliano has never spent a day without his father until he unexpectedly leaves; Ángel has likely never met his father; and Fatima hasn’t seen hers since she was a toddler. Though each story has unique family dynamics, each child feels compelled to cross this body of water to find his or her father. The water is representative of all that divides the family, whether it is social, economic, or personal. Though the movie is filmed from the perspective of the children, it also shows clearly the struggle that each mother goes through to raise a child on her own. Both Priscilliano’s and Fatima’s mothers are left to raise children alone while Ángel has both a mother and grandfather who nearly plays the role of father (though Ángel doesn’t recognize this). Though less pronounced, it is clear that the expanse of water that separates father and mother causes hardships for parents as well. The recurrent idea of drowning in this expanse of water is certainly not an accident. To me, it is a metaphor that represents the drowning, choking feeling of a child in search of a father.