Like Water for Chocolate

I found the film Like Water for Chocolate to be thought provoking. The characters,traditions and message of the film were interesting. Exploring the characters I found it intriguing how Tita remained very loyal and obedient to her mother even with all of the verbal abuse and strict tradition of having to always stay and care for her widowed mother. Tita proved to be a strong character in the film as she worked tirelessly to care for and prepare all the meals in the household. It was fascinating to me how she put so much of herself into the cooking and as she said, prepared the food with love. The kitchen was the main focus of the film as Tita cooked the meals for the family. She was even shown nursing Pedro and Rosareos baby in the kitchen as the wet nurse for the baby. It seemed Tita provided the nourishment and strength for the family as she remained the constant in the family. I thought it was interesting how Tita was portrayed as opposite Rosareo. Tita was thin, beautiful, able to sooth and care for the babies, an exceptional cook and most of all had all of Pedro's love and devotion. Rosareo on the other hand was portrayed as heavy, unhealthy, unable to care for her children and lastly did not interest her husband at all. To me the magical realism was shown as Tita used her skills in the kitchen almost as a type of magic to put some sort of "spell" over the family and situations. She used her "magic" when she cooked the quail in the rose petals that engulfed everyone with passion. Another example of this is when she seemed so jealous of Rosareo that she cooked food for her that seemed to give her severe gas and ultimately caused her death for the digestive disorder. The main message of the film was that love "wins out" Tita and Pedro remained faithful and strong to what they believed in even to the end if the story,