I found this film to me more about the psychological problems that are placed upon the generations after destruction, especially women. When a girl is raised hearing stories or rape and death, it’s natural for her to live in fear. And if you speak to any woman, the violation of the body is probably the most traumatic experience that can occur. The character Fausta had to cope with this, and granted she lived in a poor area, I don’t think that was meant to be the highlight.

It was her coping with that fear through the knowledge given to her.

My husband is from Lima and while we were watching this film he was explaining to me how, though he doesn’t know all of the traditions and superstitions, that they are very common all through out the country.

In every country there are under developed areas where people who haven’t been able to receive a proper education live there lives through superstitious beliefs. It’s more common than we care to believe and instead of learning from these people and improving the situation – most brush it off as silly and irrelevant.

I personally found this movie very moving because of the fact that it focused on real problems that take place in Peru from the civil war, rather than spoiled rich brats who have nothing better to do with their time except get into trouble. Also, it shows what many women fear all over the world – the violation of the body and the mind.

A los unicos que les importo esta pelicula fueron los de la prensa internacional. A nadie en el Peru le importo antes de que fuera nominada para los Oscars y la prensa nacional nos la puso en primeras planas publicando como 5 articulos de esta diariamente. La prensa popular me desagrada tremendamente

This movie reminds me of the backwards thinking placed in movies such as: Madeinusa which does not present a goal or a good role model for Peruvian women. I wish to see a movie about a woman who speaks Quechua, travels from places like Ayacucho, Iquitos, or Belen goes to Lima. Overcomes rape, and other struggles. Educates herself and learns to write in Spanish at 17 then to later go to Cayetano Heredia graduate. Then travels to the United States on Scholarship; attends medical school in the U.S. and goes back to Peru to educate women.

This may only happen to a few, but it happens. Nobody focuses on the success stories and we often just whine about the realities. Whining and focusing on the realities won’t move us forward. Where is that sense of self-identity and the humility we often see in Peruvians? I don’t find this in any of these films. I am not a Pituca or rich by any means, but coming from Ayacucho myself. I do not believe films like this do me or my conpatriotas any service, but rather just continues on spreading the same message. “I cannot change the way things are at home for me, so let me accept that reality and prevent myself from moving forward.”

Where is the sense of hope, strength, and diversity, and individuality we often see in the people?…

you see, in peru we still have a big problem with inequality and lack of education. many of the country´s poor, many of these rural andean people whether they have migrated to the cities or not, have not had a chance to go to school nor learn what many of us do without it even noticing. this lack of knowledge about the world around them… a state they were forced into by basically being enslaved by european conquerors… leads them to simply invent reasons for why things are the way they are – stories and supersticions for things we might easily explain or dismiss.

inventing reasons for how unexplainable things work they way they do is natural behavior… its where all our current belief systems come from.

so, the andean uneducated poor end up with supersticions that we might consider rediculous. this is real life. talk to some rural peruvians, even some urban peruvians, and they will recount all sorts of beliefs that might sound silly to us.

in the movie, the uncle of fausta explains that she is the way she is because she was passed the trauma from her mother via breast milk. we might dismiss this as uneducated or silly, if you are a bad person who doesn´t understand the reasons for these beliefs as i have explained, you might also speak bad of these people. this is unfair because the system that got you your education to laugh at his belief is the same one that exploited him so that he might not get this education.

so this brings me to the ultra-left crazy people… they are incredibly offended that indigenous peruvians are displayed as backwards and uneducated by this movie. they believe it is somehow attacking and mistreating the indigenous poor by displaying them as simpletons. one of these lunatics blinded by hate and with delusions of racism is carlos qc or peruanista. he hates this movie because uneducated people, exploited for centuries, are not portrayed as nasa engineers, brain surgeons or lawyers. he is offended that indigeous people truely think that inserting a potato in their vagina can protect them against rape and that breast milk passes on traumas from the mother.

so to recount… people who hate this movie are…

1. rich racist pitucos who are disgusted that poor people, the majority of peruvians, are shown to represent peru to the outside world. i guess for these idiots they would prefer a all-white cast and for the filming to take place in miami.

2. idiot communist reverse-racists who are biased in favor of indigenous people blinding them from seeing the realities of their situation. ignoring the beliefs they do indeed have and causing them a great dis-service by demanding they not be betrayed accurately but as educated individuals… so ignoring real life and betraying them.

i hate both these criminal minded foolish people.

i am dr ana maria sanchez. i work with the poor in villa maria del triunfo. thank you for publishing my comment.

Peruvians also hold on very strongly to their traditions. It’s something they identify themselves by and they are very proud of it, even if they are “supersticious” traditions.

My father-in-law (without my consent) had a shaman from Arequipa perform a supersticious ritual on my youngest daughter when she was a bby. My daughter has large eyes and my father-in-law (from Apurimac) believed that her large eyes allowed her to be more exposed to evil. He wanted to protect her from that.

Llosa focused on one particular “reality” in Peru, an impoverished reality that MOST of the country lives in.

I think most of the criticism of the film comes from highlighting Peru’s poverty and not for focusing on supersticious beliefs that are a part of the culture.