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Flowers From Another World review
:. Director: Icíar Bollaín
:. Starring: José Sancho, Luis Tosar
:. Running Time: 1:48
:. Year: 2006
:. Country: Spain
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Screened as part of the Immigration Series at the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival, Flowers from Another World contemplates love, immigration, racism, opportunity and culture shock in a little Spanish town.
In a small town devoid of women (and economic opportunity), the men organize an annual party to bring a caravan of available ladies with the hopes of falling in love and finding a wife. Women arrive with the hopes of finding stability, companionship, immigration papers or a combination of the three.
We meet Marirrosi (Elena Irureta) a divorced nurse from Bilbao who's lonely and looking for love; Patricia (Lissette Mejia) a young woman with two children from the Dominican Republic who's been in Spain illegally and unable to find work; and Milady (Marilyn Torres) a beautiful young Cuban who wants to see the world at any cost. They come to the town filled with eager men but not lots of opportunity other than farming. Patricia settles with Damian (Luis Tosar) a hardworking farmer who lives with his mother. Looking to find stability for her young children and a hard worker herself, Patricia tries in vain to find common ground with her mother-in-law, who seems to reject her because of her skin color and the fact that her son is no longer her obedient dog. Milady settles with an older Spanish man who wooed her in Havana, but as a twenty-something looking for adventure she ends up finding trouble when her youthful impulses clash with her jealous companion. Marirrosi finds love but is unwilling to give up city life for fields and cows.
The film is an interesting study of culture clashes. Not all of the villagers are accepting of the African heritage of Milady and Patricia and of course, assumptions about sexuality abound. Some references are made to trips to Havana and really it seems at times that what a few men really want are beautiful prostitutes rather than complete women. Milady's suitor tries to impress her with a big television and modern kitchen, but what she really wants to do is go to discos and have fun-she is in no way ready to settle down. Her fantasy of life in Europe is very different from his fantasy of life with a gorgeous young wife.
Patricia's story is the most compelling. In an frank talk with her husband, she admits that if she could have found work and been able to take care of herself either in the Dominican Republic or Spain, she probably wouldn't have married him. But now that she is there, she offers herself as a companion and as a stable love. It may not be the passionate romance of the century, but they are both able to care for and help each other.
Flowers From Another World contemplates life and love with realism, taking away the saccharine moments of small European village love stories and showing the difficulties of maintaining a relationship. There is no happy ending here, only the possibility of one.
Anji Milanovic
 Movie Reviews: from 1998 to 2011
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