Very enjoyable movie, educational and entertaining

dthal-1

Like Water for Chocolate is a wonderful romantic movie set in Mexico at the turn of the 20th century during the Mexican revolution. It is the story of a woman named Tita and the love of her life Pedro. When Tita is young, Pedro asks Tita's mother for her permission to marry Tita; however, due to the fact that Tita is the youngest daughter, family tradition bans her from marrying and she must remain unwed to care of her mother. Pedro then marries Rosaura, Tita's sister, and tells his father that he is only marrying Rosaura to be closer to Tita. Very upset by all of this and her loveless situation, Tita infuses her passion and love for Pedro into her food and thus, when people consume her cooking they become intensely aroused, at one point resulting in her sister Gertrudis getting lustfully swept away by a revolutionary soldier. Tita's mother sees that she and Pedro are becoming quite close and so she sends Pedro and Rosaura off to go and live in San Antonio. Tita becomes very depressed and even more depressed when she hears that Pedro and Rosaura's son Roberto has died; so depressed that her mother sends her to an asylum. At the asylum, Tita is brought back to health by a doctor named John Browne. No sooner does Tita begin to recover when her mother is injured by rebel soldiers in a raid and she is forced to return home to her ranch. When Tita returns home, her mother is very bitter and refuses to eat thinking that Tita's food is poisoned and soon dies.

After Tita's mother dies, Tita is allowed to marry and the doctor, John Browne, proposes. John asks Pedro to bless the marriage and when talking to Tita about this Pedro lustfully takes her virginity. The movie continues with the main premise of who Tita will choose to spend her life with, Pedro or John Browne and her battle against her mother's ghost.

The movie interestingly depicts revolutionary Mexico and the soldiers involved. The Mexican Revolution was mainly between supporter of Díaz, very conservative, and supporters of Madero and Zapata who believed in land reform and more help to the indigenous. The fighting between the two factions continued quite intensely until February 9, 1913 when President Wilson sent Madero a message saying that his fighting in Mexico City was dangerous to U.S. citizens and property. Madero hated this foreign intervention, but Huerta was placed in power to quell the fighting. Huerta was well liked by the aristocracy, the capitalists, and church but was hated by Zapata, Pancho Villa, Carranza and Obregón who led the opposition right after his induction as president. The fighting then continued and later even began within the liberal faction, but died down when Carranza was named President.

The movie does a good job showing the different types of soldiers, those with Díaz and those with Madera and Zapata. Tita's sister Gertrudis runs off with a revolutionary and returns later as a general in charge of an army of fifty five men. Tita's mother was harmed by soldiers as well, but a more violent type of soldier. The movie does an excellent job illustrating the uncertainty of the period and the different roles people played. The history is accurate, but I thought it might be a bit helpful for their to be a little bit more background for it could be hard to someone who does not know about the Mexican Revolution to understand what is happening.

All in all, the acting was very good, the storyline was enticing, and the cinematography was excellent. It is definitely a movie worth watching, both as entertainment and as something educational. Rating this movie out of ten points, ten being the highest, I give it a ten easily. It is a very enjoyable movie.

score 10/10

dthal-1 4 May 2005

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw1073863/