Today´s post is taken from the article "Millenarian Visions in Spanish Cinema", by Leora Lev, http://vc.bridgew.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1389&context=br_rev
FOR TOMORROW, try to read the article "Tom Cruise and the Seven Dwarves" by Christopher Weimer, in http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Tom+Cruise+and+the+seven+dwarves%3a+cinematic+postmodernisms+in+Abre...-a0133810108
What will the new millennium bring humankind? Will we know ourselves and our "others" better and more humanely than we now do? Will kaleidoscopically shifting technologies provide virtual worlds in which to experience multiple versions of ourselves? Do we have a consciousness, a soul, that are separate from our physical selves, and that might be freed by cryogenics or virtual space even as the body (or "meat") decays? Would this be desirable? Will we be able to alter whichever mysterious interplay of chance and destiny shapes our life stories and thus exert more control over our dénouements? Will media-filtered, Western consumer obsession with surfaces, celebrities, and image(s) cede to renewed interest in the existential, spiritual, and psycho-emotional complexities of real-life human beings? Will there be an apocalypse?
In young Spanish director Alejandro Abenámar's darkly dreamlike Open Your Eyes (Abre los ojos, 1997), César (Eduardo Noriega) is the man who has everything. A gorgeous, wealthy twenty-something playboy, he tools about Madrid in his sports car and throws parties in his ultra-chic pad. However, at a fateful party he pursues Sofia (Penélope Cruz), the lovely girlfriend of his soulful buddy Pelayo (Fele Martínez), enacting the wrongdoing alegorized in the biblical injunction against "the rich man stealing the poor man's ewe." César also spurns Nuria (Najwa Nimri), one of the many women whom he has romanced and discarded.
But Nuria literally proves to be a femme fatale; when César accepts a ride home, she drives them both off the side of the road, metaphorically signaling the narrative's shift into a nightmarish roller coaster that switches precipitously between different psychic registers. César awakens in an institution for the criminally insane, accused of murder, his face now hideously disfigured. The question of how he got from "there" to "here" is one, of course, that we might all well ask ourselves, albeit less dramatically, at many junctures. Rich, glamorous swinger, or mad, scarred assassin – which is the illusion, which the reality? To complicate matters, César repeatedly dreams of a televised spokesperson for cryogenics and the letters "ELI," giving a new twist to questions posed by such films as The Matrix (1998, starring Keanu Reeves).
Through these confusing challenges to our understanding of being and knowing, Abenámar meditates non-didactically, and in ethically and philosophically interesting ways, upon César's predicament. The scarlet-clad, seductive Nuria is allied with the dark forces, and the insouciant César is clearly being punished for his traitorous, Don Juan-of-the '90's ways. When César does return to his life outside the asylum (sans fabulous looks), he labors toward redemption and a possible winning back of Pelayo's friendship and Sofia's love. Shots of the masked César in trendy nightspots dancing alone point to the lethal obsession with surface that haunts our fin de millennium psyches, the dehumanizing focus on image and exterior packaging rather than our interior make-up. And when César and his empathetic psychiatrist Antonio (Chete Lera) discover a cryogenics institute with the acronym ELI, which is a transcription of the Hebrew for "my God," the film examines the metaphysics of future technologies: what if a client had the ability to freeze not only her body but her happiest dreams and memories, but something went awry, and she opened her eyes instead to a world of her worst nightmares? And has this happened to César?
The film links these gripping questions back to the thinking of the great Golden Age Spanish playwright Calderón de la Barca in his masterpiece Life is a Dream (La vida es sueño, 1665), whose protagonist Segismundo, a philosophical forebear of César, muses: "Life is a dream, and dreams are dreams as well" ("La vida es sueño, y los sueños sueños son"). Far from being able to shape our destiny as we would wish, we may not even be able to distinguish our waking lives from dream states or chimeric projections. But whether it's all a dream or not, we must still try to navigate, to borrow again from Calderón, some sort of conscious and conscience-driven vessel through the ocean of existence.
Within Abre Los Ojos, Alejandro Amenabar reflects the troubles following the Spanish Civil War. Specifically, Amenabar looks into the troubles Spain has with dealing with its past and tradition and what place the past has in the present. This then leads to what direction Spain as a whole will go through following this major change. In Abre Los Ojos, this can symbolically be seen in Cesar. Cesar is constantly in a struggle with the past and present. He is caught is this whirlwind of past and present memories that land him in a place where he has to decide what direction he wants to go in. Moreover, this connects to ideas of the internal and external. Internally, we see Cesar in this psychological struggle. He is trying to pieces together the past and present, symbolically showing the struggle of the Spanish. During this time the Spanish are internally dealing with how to come to terms with their past tradition and how to apply it to their present. Then externally, we see Cesar start as this clean, handsome man, then disfigured and then back again to the good looking man. This represents the continually changing state of Spain. It started as this beautiful country but then as the Spanish Civil War began, Franco caused some serious damage. This damage not only concerns the emotional/ traumatic damage but also the physical, much like Cesar’s face. However, there is still hope for Spain as Cesar finally gets to decide which direction to take his life and how to reconstruct his external body. In total, Amenabar symbolizes the troubles with the past and present and the internal and external traumas of the Spanish Civil War through Cesar and shows hopes for a new future.
ReplyDeleteAbre los ojos a la verdadera belleza. Abre los ojos a la realidad. Abre los ojos al futuro. Estos son todos los temas que se discuten en la película "Abre los ojos", en la que estamos hechos a la pregunta qué es real y cómo podemos vivir una vida de "ojos abiertos" dónde estamos atentos y progresamos hacia el futuro. Conforme avanza la película, que se convierten cada vez más conscientes de la importancia de nuestra percepción, y cómo influye en nuestra percepción de nuestra realidad.
ReplyDeleteInicialmente, hay un mensaje obvio de la percepción de belleza exterior dentro de sociedad, y cómo nuestro aspecto afecta la forma en que somos tratados. César es un hombre de quien vista de vida es completamente basado en su buena apariencia. Sin su cara guapisima, él no es nada. Este hombre comienza a darse cuenta de sus amigos que siempre estaban con él antes de su accidente no quieren estar con un hombre con una cara con cicatrices. Y él no sabe cómo hacer frente.
Sin embargo, tenemos mirar más estrechamente para encontrar los temas más profundos. La mujer Nuria es una represante del pasado de España. Como la miramos, ella aparece ser de una edad diferente - su pelo evoca los 50s y ella se destaca en una multitud. También, lleva el color rojo en la fiesta; y cuando ella sigue a César, descubrimos que incluso su coche es de color roja. Esto podría estar tratando de comunicar que pasado de España sigue el país en sus intentos de avanzar hacia el futuro (Sofía).Además, el color rojo evoca seducción y peligro, como se nos recuerda sangriento pasado de España. De manera, incluso nos recuerda la tradición de la tauromaquia española. Y como César no puede escapar Nuria, España no puede escapar de su pasado.
A través de la pelicula, Cesar es forzado decidir cuál realidad quiere vivir en: la realidad del pasado o de la futura. La película concluye con su decisión que es mejor hacer frente a lo que es real (y tal vez tiene dolor) en vez de vivir una mentira. Con esta realización, toma un salto literal, brincar de un edificio y hacia el futuro.
Scott Weaver
Abre los Ojos or Open Your Eyes plays with parallel levels of reality and fantasy. Between these two worlds is the main protagonist, César, as he must navigate the two. The future is constantly at odds with César, with him not getting what he truly wants. At other times, it seems like César is either running away from his past or future. He is unable to accept the reality that he exists in. Later on, he makes the choice to no longer live in dreams and actually put in work to live a better life. In class there were reflections on the film being a reflection as to Spain’s status during that time. Six years after the death of Francisco Franco in 1975, Spain set up a democratic system. The people would be able to choose their next leader, moving past the dictatorship from Francisco Franco. In relation to the film, there is some reflecting on the past and a struggle to move forward. More into Spain’s second transition, the film seems to ask more questions on identity. After being well established with their democratic system, Spain had these questions as well. With this connection, it is possible to see Abre los Ojos as an introspective experience on Spain’s self-discovery.
ReplyDeleteFor César, his superficial items are permanent to him. His money, appearance and friends determine his identity. Until his accident, César does not question where he is in the world. He ultimately creates his own world of perfection through the cytogenetic company, Life Exchange. César is constantly at odds with himself until he must to no longer live his fantasy life. Much with Spain, this reflection on identity is pondered on as well. No longer is government the issue, but where do the people stand. As César dreams of the perfect life he does not want to consider anything more. Spain considers where their government stands and does not go much past that. With accepting the future, there is a call to move on and create a new identity. Spain faced this as well in creating new art forms of expression and ways to make their new identity their focus.
Con esta película, quiero tomar un enfoque diferente y nuevo con la análisis. “Abre los Ojos” falta la linealidad, tiene una confusión de tiempo, y un aislamiento de la realidad individual que son relativos a la modernización de España. “Abre los Ojos” dirigido por Alejandro Amenábar es la opuesta de “¿Qué he hecho yo para merecer esto?” a causa de que los personajes de “Abre los Ojos” son más de acuerdo con la idea de la modernización de España. Para mi, el suicidio de César, el personaje protagonista, en su sueño es muy crucial para la película porque demuestra que España está lista para la modernización de España. Su suicidio del sueño ha pasada porque César no había querido a vivir en su época, él había querido un futuro nuevo y diferente. España ha llegado al futuro y la población tiene que aceptarla.
ReplyDeleteEl tema de tiempo es muy evidente en la película. Amenábar constantemente cambia las escenas entre el pasado, César sin Sofía, el presente, César con Sofía en realidad antes del accidente, y el futuro, César después del noche al bar. Amenábar cambia las escenas desde cuando empieza a mezclar los líneas de tiempo con el uso de las cicatrices de César, y los cambios de las caras de Nuria y Sofía. Como las caras de Nuria y Sofía, el tiempo para César ha sin confundido y cambiado sin la claridad. El tiempo literalmente es una invención de la humanidad y es relativo. Cuando César y su psychiatrica, Antonio, salir el manicomio para ir a L.E., aprenden que tiempo es lineal con un punto de inicio y finalización. Y cuando la vida termine, el sueño empezará, esto extenderá línea de la vida. Pero pienso que la extensión no continúa la línea. La vida no tiene tiempo después de la muerta. En la película de Amenábar, todo empieza a mezclar, el pasado, presente, y futuro.
Abre los ojos! is one of the most intriguing films we have watched in class, and is probably one of my favorites. This movie plays with the thin line between reality and fantasy. Bits and pieces are seen in the beginning of the film of Cesar’s life with the financial inheritance he gains while going under a traumatizing event, a car accident. Unable to distinguish between fantasy and reality, Cesar is constantly running away from his life as he keeps seeing Sofia change into different characters. This movie is another post-Franco era, and most of Spain was under a discovery theme after Franco’s death. As parents were not watching their children as much and people were no longer strictly supervised, most people did not know what to do with their control as they were unable to be able to see things in “their eyes.” I believe this movie expresses citizen’s feelings post Franco as people struggled seeing through their own eyes, just like how Cesar struggled to distinguish reality.
ReplyDeleteIn addition, the film explores the life of Cesar with materialistic goods. As stated earlier, Cesar became very rich before the horrific car accident, could have any girl he wanted that he felt made his identity. After the car accident is when Cesar starts questioning his life as things no longer go the way he expects to. I believe this movie is more focused on Spain’s discovery after Franco’s death which explains the ambiguity of the plot in certain films. Much of it is supposed to be inferred, as we are seeing the life through Cesar’s eyes. As nothing is permanent in Cesar’s life, things are constantly changing, just like how Spain was acting around the time. I really enjoyed this film, and I think it is more fascinating that this film came out and then Vanilla Sky was featured with very similar themes to keep the moral of the story the same.
Open Your Eyes Review
ReplyDelete---Xiaoke Qi
Open Your Eyes consisted elements like romance story, moral argument, psychological suspense, horror and the most amazing part, the inexplicable logic. Director Alejandro Amenabar is such a talented director that you never know what to expect in his movies, yet you would always be shocked by his stories and the way he presented the stories. The movie continuously reminded us to “open your eyes”, but the limit between reality and vision was soon broke down by dragging us into the same confusion as Cesar. Cesar found his true love, Sofia, on his birthday night in the little dark apartment room. He then got into a car accident with Nuria, his ex-girlfriend in which Nuria was killed and he was disfigured. The disfigurement destroyed Cesar’s life, love, and everything. We never know when the dream started because there was no end to Cesar’s reality. His fear changed the way he approached his surroundings and provided several interpretation of the film. Cesar was scared of losing Sofia from the revenge when he fell in love with her, so the dream of suffering and killing Sofia might be a dream that started the night on Sofia’s sofa. Cesar was a handsome man with money and women, so his fear of losing his attractions might cause his dream after the car accident. Cesar fell asleep on the street that night after the club and might never wake up in the dream that was full of the desperation and fear of losing his love and friend. However, my favorite theory of all these possibilities was that the entire movie was a second dream after the “empty city” dream. The final voice that wake him up in the 21st century was simply his alarm that wake him up that morning. Compared to the Hollywood movies that had similar topics like The Matrix or Inception, Open Your Eyes did not have dazzling special effects or fast-speed editing, but it was more impressive through its description of humanity and Spain society. The tradition culture that had been in people’s life for centuries are meeting the challenge of the 21st century. People are scared and confusion because they did not know what to except, just like Cesar never know what he would see in the mirror when he woke up. Director Amenabar proposed the question of the reality and vision like many other directors, but he upgraded the film by bringing in an understanding perspective of approaching the confusion: to accept. The reality might see more unrealistic than the dreams, but with the technology development, cultural progression, and political shift from the 21st century, everything could be possible in the new era. There is reason for Spanish to be confused when facing these social transformation, but when opening up your eyes to see the world, people would finally realize the balance of life. We cannot live only in our world, and we have to open eyes from the vision to look at and accept the world, just like the Spain had to open up and embrace the influence from other European countries and Western countries, like America.
Adylene Silva
ReplyDeleteLa película "Abre Los Ojos" tiene muchos aspectos juegan con el concepto de la realidad. Los aspectos de la película se enfocan en los nuevos tiempos que van a venir para la población de España. Es una de las primeras películas de España tiene un tema central a la nueva modernidad de Nueva España. Esto se puede ver por los espectadores en varios lugares de la película. Por ejemplo, el muchacho Cesar tiene dinero que ha obtenido después su familia se ha muerto. Esto se me hiso muy interesante y Nuevo para la cultura hispana de España. Hemos visto muchas películas en donde la gente no tiene mucho dinero y constantemente está luchando por sobrevivir en las etapas en están viviendo. En esta película vemos al muchacho tiene dinero pasándola bien por todo Madrid. Esto es la nueva etapa de las vidas de la nueva generación está viviendo después que ha muerto Franco. Esto es parte del tema de la película. Hay una encurtidas en las vidas de todos, están ahora interesados en nuevas tecnologías como la criogenética. Es interesante ver ese tema en las escenas de la película, César es muy superficial, y en parte tiene ver con su riqueza y su estatus social. Esa incertitud es parte los jóvenes del tiempo están viviendo. La película juega mucho con sueños y tiempo, el espectador está constantemente tratando de averiguar es real y es sueño, siento que hay una relación con la incertitud pasa después se muere una persona en poder y el país se convierte en un lugar donde la gente está tratando de fijar sus vidas. Con el título, Abre los Ojos, y repitiendole tanto como lo hicieron en la película es un comentario para toda la población, abran los ojos al nuevo mundo, y hay tratar de parar viviendo en sueños y enfocarnos en la realidad.
Abre los ojos, written and directed by Alejandro Amenábar, is very different from any of the other films we have watched in class so far, greatly due to what seems to be a larger, more intentional catering toward audience entertainment through a more action-packed and contemporary film. Unlike El espíritu de la colmena and Cría cuervos, which both fall into the Francoist aesthetic style, Abre los ojos is incredibly fast-paced, intense, and climatic. There are no long gaps and pauses within the movie that are left for audience interpretation, and because of this, the film truly demonstrates its modernity, which is fitting since it was released in 1997. Although it is more modern and was released after the transitional period of Spain had come to an end in 1982, I do still believe that the film demonstrates the struggles that Spain was encountering during the 1990s, which instead of being a problem of transition, was more of an issue revolving around the search for a national identity. At the time of the movie’s release, Spain was finally integrated as a country into the rest of Europe, and it was no longer isolated; however, with this, there was a massive struggle to re-engage culturally and maintain a sense of national integrity and identity. After watching the film, I believe that Amenábar does a fantastic job of creatively representing this struggle and search throughout the entirety of the film, specifically through the character of César. Although it is simply my opinion, I believe that César demonstrates the concept of Spain no longer looking to the past for guidance and knowledge, and instead, jumping head first into the modernizing and unknown future. Even though this was not necessarily a bad thing socially, politically, or economically, it did cause a strong sense of loss and confusion for Spain regarding its national identity. I believe that César displays this concept perfectly because his memories of the past are completely wiped out. Due to this, he never looks back to his past for anything, in the same way that the Spanish youth during the 1990s seemed to forget and ignore their nation’s past of civil war and dictatorship. By not looking at the past, both César and Spain lost their senses of identity, which landed them in an overall state of loss and confusion. Along with not looking to the past, César also decides to jump off of the building and into what he believes is a better future, even though he has no real knowledge or understanding of what it will be like. This is very similar to the way in which Spain and its youth after the transitional period seemed to head straight on toward an unknown, modernizing future without taking time to look back. Through this exciting, fast-paced, and intense film, Amenábar was still able to do more than simply entertain a contemporary audience; he was able to portray the situation and struggles that Spain was encountering regarding their search for national and cultural identity at the end of the 20th century.
ReplyDeleteIn Alejandro Amenabar’s film Abre los ojos! (1997), the audience tries to decipher the line between reality and dreams. The main character, Cesar, seems to have it all. He is very good looking, wealthy, and picks up girls with ease, disposing of them with little difficulty. After he meets his dream girl Sofia (he steals her away from his best friend Plabeyo), he is almost immediately plagued by the presence of an unstable one-night stand named Nuria. The movie depicts them getting into a horrible accident and his precious face being terribly deformed. His mental state disintegrates rapidly and we see him lose himself and his grip on reality. We see the theme of tradition versus modernity again in this film. The main female characters are the best representation of this theme. Nuria represents the more modern side while Sofia emits the traditional side. There is also an emphasis on technology. The film came out before the turn of the century so perhaps this is a commentary on the future and the possibilities it holds. The audience is in a relatively constant state of confusion as we try to decipher reality from the dream like state Cesar is in. The film brings to light the very basic question of existence and alludes to the fact that it is a psychologically constructed reality in which we live. The film is both fascinating and thought provoking. I do not sense much political commentary but really just a reflection on life itself.
ReplyDeleteSin duda “Abre los ojos” es una película hija de la posmodernidad. Hasta ahora hemos visto una serie de puntos claves que tienen que ver principalmente con elementos narrativos y cuyo eje principal es la fragmentación y la contradicción, conceptos posmodernos significativos y característicos de la época después de Franco y la Guerra Civil Española. Pero dentro de la historia y el discurso que plantea la película encontramos nuevas referencias a discusiones y problemáticas planteadas por la posmodernidad y sus teóricos.
ReplyDeleteUna de los cuestiones elementales del debate posmoderno gira en torno a la realidad. En la filosofía posmoderna la realidad es incierta y difusa. Se postula la realidad como derivada del pensamiento. Filósofos predecesores del posmodernismo como George
Berkeley ya defendían que no hay un sentido de realidad exterior al sujeto, sino que es el sujeto el que construye el mundo desde su identidad, el ser es aquello percibido. “Abre los ojos” plantea estas cuestiones directamente, ya que, como afirma el propio director en una entrevista que se le hizo “Abre los ojos habla sobre la alienación. Sobre todas las alienaciones. ¿Qué sabemos de lo que nos rodea? ¿De cuántas maneras diferentes se puede percibir una misma realidad? En este sentido “Abre los ojos” es para mí, más que nunca, un reto en lo que respecta a la colocación de la cámara, al punto de vista a adoptar como director. Jamás había dudado tanto sobre mi papel como observador”. Siguiendo este enfoque y relacionándolo con la película, el sueño tecnológico vivido por César sí que pertenecería a la realidad en tanto que es imaginada, soñada e ideada por su mente.
Una referencia que creo adecuada es el mito de la caverna de Platón y el mundo de las ideas. Lo verdadero y lo representado. Cuando César vive dentro de su sueño programado no es más que uno de esos hombres prisioneros dentro de la caverna que cree que lo que siente y piensa es el mundo real (la verdad) por el propio hecho de sentirlo y pensarlo. Sin embargo, también representa a ese prisionero que consigue escapar, liberarse y, en este caso, reencontrarse con el mundo real. Únicamente aceptando el dolor que supone conocer la verdad, el sufrimiento de la propia liberación, se podrá alcanzar el conocimiento. En la escena final de Abre los ojos, César decide despertar de la peor de sus pesadillas y volver al futuro, a su vida (la real) ciento cincuenta años después de su muerte, aunque para ello tenga que dejar atrás lo más querido, a Pelayo, su mejor amigo y a Sofía, la mujer de la que está enamorado.
Hmm, with what I announced during class I really should write my perspective as a schizophrenic on the realities depicted in this movie.
ReplyDeleteFirstly I feel I should cover the idea and reality that Cesar was suffering of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, with schizophrenic symptoms. I had initially been watching the movie with this assumption and it is actually a reasonable interpretation of the whole movie. In this assumption Cesar lost himself in alcohol and the PTSD starts screwing with him earlier in the same night the movie claims his memories were inserted and after which muted his original memories. Instead of the claimed occurrence I viewed this night as the onset of his paranoia and the beginning of his descent into drug abuse. That night it was only alcohol, but he was already hallucinating Nuria's appearance overlaid on Sofia. Getting sloshed was enough for the hallucinations to feed on his jealousy and fears. After that night he saw some quack doctor and obtained drugs. The cryogenics tv ad was simply so mething he frequently saw on tv and was included in his drug induced trips. Eventually he overdoses and attacks Sofia. He blacks out midway through that night only to find out that he was being questioned for murder, a murder he can not remember doing. In this assumption, the ending sequence of the movie is actually a triggered resurgence of his PTSD due to the tv ad playing in the prison. He may or may not have found a ledge to jump off of, but he did blackout midway through. The ending lines come from paramedics telling him to 'wake up.' That’s my interpretation based off of him being crazy and not in a dream world.
Now as for my interpretation as a schizophrenic, if his hallucinations were ‘real’, he does not have a true claim to insanity at all. He simply dreamed up familiar faces while he was being defrosted. His promised dream of a ‘perfect world’ couldn’t exist until the end of the movie for a simple reason: he had to heal from his prior life’s traumas enough to be free of his nightmares before he could accept pleasant dreams. The L E employee at the end pointed out that the characters present at the end were ‘necessary’ for Cesar, and then kept trying to get him to kill himself and wake up. This strikes me as quite odd, death doesn’t always wake one from a dream and why would the Life Extension company want an already paid with interest customer to be out of their hair? They wouldn’t, his money is only theirs while in their care. Unless he signed a really bad contract at which point, why provide him with the option to dream while dead anyhow? It is weird, and so I assume his jumping off the edge may have been the mind’s rationalization of brain death within a vegetative body. His brain had already lost all but the most necessary functions, and even they had lost their complex identities and broke down. They once had complex identities, were named after and made to look like people important to Cesar, but they were in fact representations of his Id(the friend), Superego(the father/psychiatrist combo), lust(Sofia), and fear(Nuria). His own appearance was the ego, or conscience mind coupled with the will to live (The mask). The Life Extension suit was simply the part of Cesar that was ready to die. As the movie went on all the other characters in his mind slowly succumbed to that acceptance of death and disappeared. Someone whom survived him kept wishing for Cesar to ‘wake up’ over and over while visiting his hospital bed, and he kept hearing her say it in his mind right up until he finally faded away in that last scene.
I do not believe this movie had a happy ending, his brain was simply too slow in patching itself together and even if his ego was whole in that ending scene, nothing else within his head held definition. It was too little, too late.
-Tim Henderson
Alex Willis
ReplyDeleteIn the 1997 film, Abre Los Ojos director Ajejandro Amenabar presents the viewers with a modern psychedelic that challenges thought and engages throughout. As a method of moving towards the twenty-first century and a Europeanized society, this movie explores modern medicine and technology. Although very contemporary, the film does not forget to touch on some of the classical aspects seen in previous movies.
Up to this point most films focused on making political statements and expressing emotion during and post-Franco era, but Abre Los Ojos takes a different turn by evaluating society and looking forward to the future. The first several scenes show the luxuries of the wealthy, including nice cars, big parties, and beautiful women. Cesar has the ideal life, but Amenabar might be trying to convey that the rich sometimes end up as miserable as some in the working class. After Nuria drives her car off the road Cesar’s life takes a turn for the worst. Not only did his external appearance completely change but he also gave his mind away to artificial perception at the life extension business. Cesar’s struggle is confusing but also engaging as he tries to reconstruct his life, but there is an underlying sense of hopelessness throughout the process. This could possibly be representing the struggles of Spain’s past catching up with them as well as the difficulties of adapting to the new age of ideas and technology.
I thought it was interesting that subtle religious influences were made in the film for example when Nuria asks Cesar if he believed in God before attempting to kill him. This could be shining some light on the idea that religion was beginning to be taken more casually than in the past in Spain. Nevertheless it seemed like this was such a significant part of the film that set the tone for the rest of the story. Playing along these lines I think the final scene on top of the skyscraper was very representative of a potential afterlife scene, with Sofia in her white dress acting as a Heavenly figure.
Even though this film did not follow the evolution of Spain after Franco as well as some of the other films did, I think it still would have been successful at the time. This mostly due to the fact that instead of trying to defy politics and social standing Amenabar presented an idea that had not been seen before without any restraint. Although I did not necessarily see many direct analogies in this film as some others it was enjoyable and acted as a bridge to many present-day cinemas.
El largometraje Abre los ojos (1997) dirigida por Alejandro Abenámar es distinta a las películas anteriores que hemos visto en clase, en términos de la escenografía, la historia y la modernidad del film. A comparación de las demás películas, esta se caracteriza como una historia más “Hollywood,” con el propósito de entretener al público. Abre los ojos no necesariamente contiene muchas escenas donde uno tenga que hacer una pausa para pensar y reflexionar el significado o el simbolismo de las escenas. Ya que esta película es del año 1997 y toma parte después de la transición, la escenografía es moderna, también porque Abenámar muestra una gran variedad de lugares en Madrid como una ciudad moderna y avanzada. Sin embargo, a pesar de que esta sea una película más moderna, se puede asumir que los personajes de César, Sofía, Nuria y Pelayo son un reflejo de la actual generación de jóvenes, cada uno con sus propios problemas personales, algunos tratando de encontrar un lugar en la sociedad. También se puede asumir que el personaje de César cuando la compañía le borra su memoria con pensamientos del pasado, representa la generación actual que no vivió la guerra civil ni la dictadura de Franco. A causa de esto, es lógico que a la generación se le olvide o no considere la vida durante esos viejos tiempos y se les hayan borrado de la memoria para avanzar con su vida. Esto es lo mismo que pasó con el personaje de César cuando el señor francés le dio la opción de despertar de su sueño y continuar con su vida, viviéndola como él quisiera. Esta escena representa la sociedad moderna española que tiene la libertad de elegir su propio camino en la vida sin la autorización de nadie, también representa que la generación moderna es capaz de hacer sus propias decisiones sin tener miedo a desobedecer a alguna autoridad como solía suceder en los tiempos franquistas. Se puede decir que, Abre los ojos también abre las puertas a las siguientes películas con ideas modernas gracias a su aportación en la sociedad española después de la transición.
ReplyDelete-Bianca Soto
Abre Los Ojos
ReplyDeleteDavid Lopez
La película Abre Los Ojos, dirigida por Alejandro Abenámar, post moderna que pone la cultura Española en una perspectiva distinta. En esta película, vemos que Cesar lucha con la alienación propia y con su sanidad. Aun la película tiene muchas maneras de interpretar lo que paso, pero, debajo de la película entretenida, uno puede analizar lo que está pasando en España contemporánea. Esta película salió en el 1997 y esta película juega con la potencia de la tecnología y lo imprevisible del futuro que se sentía entre España, igual que como el resto del mundo. Pero, el tema más profundo es el tema de aceptando el pasado para un futuro nuevo. Cesar no puede olvidarse de Sofía ni de lo que le paso a su cara. Él quiere y desea de volver a lo que era antes. Cuando esta Cesar en la institución para los enfermos de mente, no puede formar sus recuerdos, su memoria está construida de fragmentos de recuerdos. Cesar tiene que juntar todos los pedazos de su memoria para poder superar su pasado con el accidente y perdiendo a Sofía. Al final, cuando el ya piensa Cesar que ya junto los pedazos y sabe lo que es su pasado, él tiene una decisión: si se quiere quedar en un pasado falso, pero ideal, o si quiere conocer lo que hay en el futuro. El escoge el futuro representando que para que él pueda mejor de su pasado “deformado” (porque su esta deformada) que solamente en el futuro puede encontrar una solución para su cara desfigurada y para dejar de vivir en un mundo falso que existe para su conveniencia. Estos dos “mundos” son una representación de España. El pasado que Cesar tiene que aceptar es el pasado de España cuando estaba Franco de dictador. El futuro representa la potencia existe pero existe duda de lo que puede ver, pero es muy similar a la vida real donde nunca sabemos lo que nos espera para el próximo día.
Abre los Ojos introduces us to a world where appearance is both everything and nothing at the same time. The amount of anger that Cesar expresses for no longer having a “beautiful surface” is extraordinary. This is in fact an interesting contrast to the youth of Laberinto de Pasiones. The youth of Laberinto are very much encouraged to express themselves, seek pleasure in everything and be ultimately happy, regardless of the fear for consequence or punishment.
ReplyDeleteIn Cesar’s world, at least in the beginning, he and his fellow young adults of the 90’s live it up as well, but Cesar appears to receive great punishment for his actions of being a playboy and enjoying his life the way he wants. Theoretically, he is involuntarily sucked into a vortex of personally nightmarish events, all a consequence, as Leora Lev puts it of his “traitorous, Don-Juan-of-the 90’s ways.” His appearance seems to be the ultimate loss for him, suggesting that the young adults of 1990’s Spain are superficial and unable to decipher what is important and even what is real.
The film could be seen as a warning to pursue meaning, maybe spiritually with the reference to Eli, or psychologically with yet another presence of a psychiatrist. In the 80’s and 90’s, it seemed there was a huge emphasis on psychiatry, to the point where it almost became trendy to have a therapist. Is the idea that the youth of Spain was so focused inward and that was the result of all their psychological problems? Is Cesar’s punishment a warning to stop pursuing the frivolous “fun” of those in Laberinto?
Abre los Ojos certainly illustrates the potential for Spain to be confused culturally as to it’s place in the world after having been under Franco for so long. I realize this is very post-Franco, but the repercussions seem to take a long time to settle. The Spain of today is nothing like the Spain of the Franco that we viewed early on in film. It is quite challenging for a viewer to figure out what is real in Abre; we share Cesar’s dreamlike/nightmarish confusion.
What does it mean to “open your eyes”? Do we live in a reality we have chosen or one that has been chosen for us? Are we characters in a story written long ago, the end already pre-determined? While it seems that we are in control of our own lives, it is also quite possible that even decisions as slight as what to eat for breakfast were scripted at the beginning of time. The day of our birth, the day of our death and each day in between have been decided. Although there are a number of ways one could interpret the phrase, “abre los ojos”, one understanding could lead us to truly examine how little control we hold over our own lives. To open our eyes could mean, to truly come to terms with our existence, our purpose and how much or how little we affect the story.
ReplyDeleteAmenabar presents a mind bending story of Cesar, an affluent young man that represents the best Spain has to offer---materialistically. Rich with possessions he is poor in authentic relationships, save for his saint like friend, Pelayo. His encounters with women are superficial and meaningless until he meets Sofia who represents a humility and natural beauty, foreign concepts to Cesar. Nuria, a psychopath femme fatale, pursues Cesar relentlessly. She caters to Cesar’s detached and impersonal interactions with her, creates a sense of mystery and intrigue around herself to attract Cesar but once she has become a known quantity, Cesar bores of her and attempts to discard her. Cesar’s selfishness earns him a ride over a cliff which destroys him physically but at this point, he also begins to unwind psychologically. From this point in the movie, it is difficult to keep up with reality versus fantasy. Scenes shift quickly between the two, leading the audience to gain a sense of the craziness inside Cesar’s mind.
I see a great deal western influence in this film, a focus on materialism, consumerism, economic gain and less of the original, traditional Spain that seems to be long in the rear view mirror. As Spain sought to find her place in the world, filmmakers seem to reflect the Spain that they want the world to see them as- prosperous, creative, successful, free thinkers. Amenabar does such a great job of assimilating his film to the global stage that American filmmakers recreate the story and presents their own version.
In “Abre los Ojos” Alejandro Amenabar shows the struggles that Spain has been going through after Franco’s death in attempts to modernize Spain. It shows what the uncertainty of the future and all the new technology it could possibly bring. Cesar, who is the main character, goes through this futuristic procedure where he dies and then is frozen and his life is basically all a dream after that. There are many flashbacks to his old life in his dreams within his dream and then there is his actual dream where he is put in a psychiatric jail basically. He keeps dwelling in the past and this keeps him from actually being able to live his dream. Towards the end he is given the option to die again in order to live in the future and sort of let his past go. I feel like this all correlates to Spain and how in order for them to progress as a country people need to let go of their past traditional ways in order to make way for the more modern ways. There is a of concern of change and a sense of an alternate reality. This film sort of shows the scars of the Spanish youth after the war and how they are still there and affect their lives. Another thing I think this film shows is that money can’t buy happiness and no matter how many material things one has happiness won’t be fulfilled. Touching on futuristic aspects, this film shows ideas of what could be possible in the future and the developing technological advances that could be expected into the 2000s. Spain is really adapting to modernization and the changing technologies of the world at this point and hope for even more advancements in their future. Cesar is told that it is some hundred years later and that their now is technology to restore his skin completely. It kind of shows that it will take a lot of years to restore Spain completely but with changing technology and further modernization it can be done and there is hope for Spain’s future.
ReplyDeleteMarcos Willman
ReplyDeleteAbre Los Ojos by Alejandro Amenabar is a psychological drama about a rich playboy type, who plays the archetype of the spoiled elitist. With the mentality of deserving whatever he desires, despite his friends or anyway who would think otherwise. After his supposed best friend tells him how he met the most beautiful woman and how she might be the one for him, Cesar (the main character), decides to swoon her anyway at his birthday party. Then through a series of events he ends up being disfigured, because of a pervious love affairs jealously drives her into the attempt of killing herself and Cesar. Even though he survives he takes the fact that his face is disfigured very hard. I think because Cesar is an entitled elitist he had a powerful sense of pride, where he would put himself very high on a pedestal and then watched himself as he crashed down and was now placed below the ‘normal’ people, which he was previously above, in a sense. I think Cesar can represent the corporate elitists of Spain, or perhaps the political leaders who still choose to over look the working class. Then by having Cesar undergo this ‘destruction of ego’ is in a sense bring down the political leaders or elitists down to the level of everyone else, breaking down their ego to gain perspective on the working class. When it comes to the aspect of the film that takes place completely in his dreams, it can represent this veil of illusion that is placed on the common people in this modern day through popular media, where one has to remove themselves from. Around the turn of the century it seems that the new ‘enemy’ so to speak for the people to overcome or for the population to revolt against, because something more internal. Our own illusions and delusions, and by looking beyond the veil of media and the world around us I believe this film is trying to show us to that we have the ability, within us, to wake up. To open our eyes.
The film Abres los ojos is a mind-bender that never allows you to completely define the reality of the film. Time, reality, love, friendship: they are all seemingly illusory at times. Coupled with the films recurring message “Open your eyes”; a social commentary opens up that suggests to the viewer that perhaps the accepted status quo and pillars of civilization that surround us are not as they seem. This film focuses on a young man, Cesar, who is good-looking and affluent. Cesar is a playboy until he meets Sofia and immediately falls in love for the first time. His jilted lover Nuria, attempts to kill him in a car crash leaving his face permanently disfigured. The first plot device used is a common one. Cesar was introduced to Sofia by his friend Pelayo. Pelayo is average looking and not wealthy, so Cesar instantly swoops in and steals his girl. The disfigurement of Cesar seems a “Trading Places” type situation. Pelayo complains to his friend earlier that he is ugly. Becoming disfigured after being a bad friend leaves the viewer with little empathy for Cesar initially. While following his story however, the message of the film seems to shift to “what is real happiness?” or “what does happiness mean to you?” After his accident Cesar is willing to spend any amount or take any risk to fix his disfigurement. Happiness to Cesar has always been defined by his elevated status in life. A life as an unattractive man is not a life at all in his mind. Ultimately, the only way for him to fix his scars and leave his past behind is to completely abandon himself to the future and what it can promise. This ideal was a common theme in many American films at the time (Matrix, Vanilla Sky, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind). When contrasted with Spanish history and the Franco dictatorship, this idea could be construed as perhaps not a critique but suggestion. A country struggling to define its direction in a new millennium and dealing with a somewhat sordid past could easily relate to Cesar’s experience and dynamic change
ReplyDelete“Abre los ojos” es un melodrama espectacular infundido de vueltas y vuelcos sin perder la esencia de los mensajes entre la historia. El largometraje trata muchos temas importantes en la sociedad: La vida después de la muerte que promete la religión que es paralela con misma promesa de una vida artificial. También los valores morales entre la clase baja y la clase alta, conectando la vanidad de la belleza en forma reversa de los géneros. El melodrama conecta los temas contrastando el pasado con el futuro. Básicamente toca todos los temas gobiernan la psicología del ser humano.
ReplyDeleteEl contraste de la religión con la de una extensión de vida es lo mismo. La única diferencia es de que en religión el ser humano rinde todo control a un ser supremo mientras vive la persona en la realidad de este mundo. El individuo no pierde el poder de voluntad propia al igual que en la vida artificial. Lo irónico es de que siempre existe algún creador, alguna persona que represente a un ser divino o sobrenatural. A pesar de todo, el ser humano crea las consecuencias de sus acciones y decisiones. Entre esas acciones y decisiones, como en el caso de Cesar, el creo “su infierno en el mundo real y también en el mundo artificial. Las diferencias de los valores morales entre las clases sociales, también juegan parte del juego de la vida. En el caso de Cesar, el valorizaba el buen vestir, su empresa, su vida social y sexual, su dinero, el lujo y su físico. Pero, de nuevo, es irónica la fragilidad de la vida de una persona que invierte su tiempo en la “felicidad artificial” y no en la verdadera felicidad. En caso de Cesar, al sufrir el desfiguramiento de su rostro, todas las demás desgracias se convierten en una cadena de eventos donde el siempre será infeliz; vida artificial o realidad.
Usualmente, el género de la mujer es quien sufre de complejos con las apariencias físicas, pero el director cambio los géneros acerca del tema. Cesar es quien sufre por su aspecto desfigurado de su rostro. Cesar está dispuesto a pagar el dinero necesario para que se le devuelva su “belleza” y, a sacrificar su cuerpo para experimentos científicos. El director comunica que, en sí, el ser humano vive una de las dos “realidades” según lo que el individuo elija. Entre las escenas se pueden apreciar los contrastes del pasado y del moderno mostrando los edificios grandes y modernos y la case de Sofía, entre el coche nuevo de Nuria y el Volkswagen, que es representante del pasado y presente. La escena de Cesar con la máscara puesta atrás de su cabeza, es un contraste entre el pasado y presente, entre lo moderno y lo pasado, entre la realidad y lo artificial.
En referencia política, la película comunica que un balance es esencial para lograr un cambio verdadero y una comprensión realística del futuro. La razón que esto es importante, es porque el ser humano es frágil en su psicología y corre riesgo de cometer los mismos errores que le causen corrupción y trastornos mentales. Por lo tanto, es importante estar conscientes de que el futuro ofrecerá muchas oportunidades con avances científicos y tecnológicos, en el cual un balance entre todos los contrastes es de mucha importancia. Es en este punto donde Espana se encontraba despues de Franco.
Matthew Braun
ReplyDeleteNo film has ever made me sicker to my stomach than Alejandro Abenamar’s “Open Your Eyes.” It did not make me sick because it was a bad film, nor were the scenes too much for me to handle, but because of the amount of questioning it had me doing not only with the film itself, but with my own life. The idea of being cryogenically frozen and caught somewhere between a nightmare and virtual reality feels like life, itself. Is this all but a dream? Is the only way to wake up through death?
The film follows the charming Cesar as he is trying to rid himself of an old girl, Nuria, as he is falling for the beautiful Sofia. Nuria is a stalker and one day convinces Cesar to ride home with her – ultimately causing her own death and Cesar’s disfigurement. From this point, Abenamar begins adding layers of reality and unreality, mixing the mundane with the totally bizarre. The cinematography of the film effortlessly captures the idea of blending, and the piece becomes whole. This focal point begins to set in with the audience when we are forced to ask deeply philosophical questions about life inside and outside of the film. How are we able to discern a dream from waking life? Reality from unreality? Do people truly exist, or are they the product of a representation of our mind?
Layers of reality and dream state continue to be added along to the film. Has Sophia been Nuria this whole time? Is Cesar actually just going crazy? Was Sophia ever real to begin with? Why does Cesar’s face continue to switch from his normal beautiful face to the deformed post accident face? The final question comes at the end of the film when Cesar jumps off of the roof. Does this actually awake him? Was he ever really frozen, or had he gone mad and end his actual life with that jump? Again, this film made my stomach turn from not being able to discern from a true reality.