*Not Ready For Prime Time Class Struggle -Watch What Yo Eat-Please- "Water For Chocolate"-A Film Review

Click on the title to link to a "YouTube"film clip of a scene from the film, "Water For Chocolate".

DVD Review

Water For Chocolate, (in Spanish, English sub-titles), Marco Leonardi, Lumi Rivera, Walt Disney Video, 2000.

Apparently once you get on the topic of food there is no end to commentary on the subject. Recently I reviewed the food-centered “Julie and Julia” about the marathon efforts of a modern day blogger to race through and prepare every recipe in the famous Child’s cook book. Now we have a little Mexican import that has the mysteries, portents and usages of food, if not as the central plot then as an important prop in the narration of the story.

And that story? A tale straight out of the “magical realism” trend that is still, mainly, in vogue these days in novelistic treatments. In short, a tale of love, longing for love, love thwarted, love twisted, conventional family life Mexican style gone awry, old time views on the place of women and children in the nuclear family structure and all glue together by…endless scenes of the preparation of this and that in the ever present kitchen. A nice sent-up of a film and a cautionary tale or two to make one think. As I pointed out in the Child’s review though, I hope I do not have to revive that old feudal tradition of having someone taste my food before I eat it.