El Paso (Zdenek Tyc, 2009): Czech Republic

Reviewed by Danae Thomas. Viewed at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, Metro 4 Theater.

Vera is a single mother who has seven children to take care of. Her husband was hit by a car and killed awhile back and she doesn’t have any other close family to help her. Her oldest daughter decided to leave and be with her boyfriend instead which leaves Vera more alone and helpless as she has to take care of the kids by herself. Vera is also a minority and she gets treated unfairly sometimes for it for example; when Vera was in the clothing store many women kept looking at her like she was going to steal something because she looked different from them.

The crisis that happens in this film is that Vera owes the government a lot of money since her husband’s death and she and the children have to be evicted into a small cramped building. The building is not large enough for their family and people are noticing that Very smokes and drinks in front of the kids which make them wonder if she’s capable of being a good mother. The government lets her know that she will be going to court and they will decide if she’s able to take care of her children or not.

Vera only has a certain amount of time to prove to the government and everyone, else that she loves her kids and can take care of them on her own without anyone’s help.

The quest that Vera has is to be able to keep all of her children with her and not let her family be separated. One of her children is dead and is taken to a school where there are others like him. Vera’s lawyer and the teacher believe it is best for him to stay at the school but Vera wants him at home with her

There are conflicts that stop Vera from being able to hold on to her children such as: the fact that people know that she drinks and smokes in front of them is a big deal. They believe that since she does these things she is not capable of taking care of her seven children. The government is a big conflict since they are the antagonists. They want Vera’s kids taken away from her since they believe she is not capable of giving them a good home. It also seems that Vera is insecure in herself and doesn’t believe that she can win the case as she makes the lawyers infuriated by not listening to their advice.

Vera develops as a character in different ways. She starts off by being a cold hearted person who can’t seem to trust anyone to help her except for her oldest daughter whom she has difficulties with; considering she left to live with her boyfriend. When lawyers try to help her she shoots them down and doesn’t bother to listen to them. Later on in the film she is able to trust other people to help her and is able to relax a little and be able to have fun with her kids.