Real Women Have Curves
Starring: America Ferrera and Lupe Ontiveros
Review written by: Joshua Taj Bozeman on August 5, 2003 @ 5:11 P.M.
Anyone who reads my site will know the reason I picked up this movie in the first place, was because of the amazingly beautiful and charming actress, America Ferrera, who completely carries the movie as Ana. After much anticipation, reading a number of online reviews, and fawning over America as much as I possibly could, I picked up the DVD today at the library, and finally sat down to watch it. I had very very high hopes, but in the end- I must say, it's not the best movie ever made, like some people seem to act, but it is charming, engaging, uplifting, entertaining, and because of America- captivating.
The story is about Ana, who we meet on her last day of high school...and the struggles she has with her old fashioned mother who is clearly an immigrant from Mexico. I'm not sure if they mentioned it, but I get the feeling that Ana is first generation American. There is a struggle between the two, in that Ana wants to be her own woman and go away to college, yet her mother wants Ana to stay at home, work in her sister's garment factory, and eventually get married and have a baby. Either life could be appealing in certain ways, depending on the character...Ana is not the type of girl who will be happy with staying at home, but she gives into her mother's wishes and tells her well meaning teacher (played by George Lopez) that she's not going to college, and that he should spend his time working on someone else, and trying to get them into college, not her. The teacher comes by the house a couple times during the movie, and things go from bad to worse...the second time he comes to tell Ana that she's been accepted into Columbia with a full scholarship, her mother Carmen gets angry at the teacher and tells him it's a family matter and that Ana cannot leave and break up the family. She can go to college later.
There's also a subplot with Jimmy, a scrawny guy who takes a liking to Ana. I get the feeling that Ana has few friends at school and feels like an outsider. We see her get up in the morning in her East L.A. home and walk long ways to bus stops to catch 2 or 3 buses to get to Beverly Hills High. Her teacher later mentions that she got into B.H. High, and that's tough...so she needs to go to college. The weird thing is, we're never really told what she wants to be or what she's going to college for. In the commentary track, Lupe Ontiveros (Carmen, Ana's mother) says something about Ana's writing, so maybe she wants to be a writer? We never get a sense of what she's into or what her passions are, so the whole college part of the story is lost a bit on me, because we don't know much about it, besides the fact that she applied in summer and made it into Columbia for the fall (unheard of- so it would seem, even if Lopez's character is buddies with the dean of admissions.) Jimmy is a boy who is doing summer work for the teacher, and runs into Ana and writes down his phone number for her (on her hand.) She ends up calling up and it's obvious that she's hiding it from her mother (she hangs the phone up when her mom comes in her room, and later her grandpa has to lie and pretend to go to a movie with her, when in reality she's on a date with Jimmy.) The scenes with Jimmy and Ana are really touching, probably more so for me, because I am just completely smitten with America Ferrera. This whole subplot seems rushed, in that we see only 2 dates, then they have sex, then she tells him to not write her or e mail her, because he'll probably meet a skinny girl in "teacher college" as he calls it. It seemed odd and a bit unbelievable that Ana, tho clearly not shy, and very confident, would let Jimmy see her body so quickly. It would seem to me that very few women are willing to show their bodies that quickly, and it seems it would Ana, who has a bigger frame a bit longer to be comfortable with that. Also, it seemed rush (as I said), in that 2 dates, sex, the end. It almost played out like a quick affair of lust, when it feels like it should have played out as a more romantic story with the two of them falling for each other. The date scenes were nice, especially when we see the two of them walking across the street, with downtown L.A. in the background, all lit up.
Speaking of nice scenery...there's some great shots of 'ethnic' areas in Los Angeles throughout the film. We see these areas as Ana walks to get to the bus, as she rides in the truck to the garment shop, and even scenes of it when she's off to catch her plane to college. It's all very well shot, and the dp did a nice job here. In the commentary tracks, America and Lupe mention that there's so much beauty in these shots of L.A.- areas we don't see much that much in films, and there's a lot of color and vibrance to it all. I agree 100%.
Back to Ana's mother, Carmen...she is constantly calling Ana gordita (little fatty) and talking about how she's lazy and can't do anything write and all of this. She wants her to be a lady, cook, clean, do chores like a lady does. Get married, have kids, take care of them all, like a lady. Ana is defiant, and gets more defiant as we get closer to the end of the film. A woman has thoughts, feelings, a mind of her own, Ana says to her mother and the women at the garment shop, where she ends up having to work for the summer. She ends up stripping down to her underwear and bra in a scene that should be gratifying to all women who aren't a size 0. It's hot, so she takes off her shirt, and eventually they all start comparing stretch marks and cellulite, eventually getting undressed themselves.
So...in the end, Ana goes off to college, but her mother really doesn't have a big change of heart. She doesn't give Ana her blessing, and she doesn't see her off to the airport. Carmen, in my opinion, is just a bitter woman...she feels as tho she has worked all her life, worked so hard she has arthritis in her hands, and now it's Ana's turn...Ana's turn to suffer it seems. Maybe that's not what the mother wanted, but that's what I took away from it. She loves her daughter, but she seems a bit jealous that she wants to go her own way and not be traditional and conform to her mother's will. In the end, Ana becomes more mature (slightly), and learns a lot about herself. She learns that Jimmy found her attractive and slept with her...which means that a man CAN love her, despite what her mother says to the contrary. She finds that she can love herself for who she is inside, and not what people see on the outside alone...she goes to NYC, and in the final scene, we see her, walking, a bit more mature, very confident, a new hair style (curled), making her way down the tough streets of the city...alone...with her mom...as her own woman. She struggles with tradition and with her mother's wishes, and makes a life for herself, doing what she wants....fulfilling her dreams.
Real Women is a very touching film...it totally brings you up, tho I found myself somewhat depressed, because, I admit- I would love to have a girl like Ana in my life...I'd love to be in the same shoes as Ana (making my own way, off to college, living life to the fullest), I guess I'm silly, but that's how I felt. Despite my odd disposition this morning when I watched it, the movie is uplifting like few films are today. It's a true celebration of being yourself and loving yourself for who you are. It's all about being who you want to be, and following your dreams, no matter what.
America Ferrera is just infectious, and if not for her, I think that this movie wouldn't have been as good as it was. Myself- I couldn't take my eyes off of her. Every scene she was in, I was just staring, wondering how they ever found such a charming young woman to play the role of Ana. The filmmakers got REALLY lucky when they found Ferrera. Like many others have mentioned, if the world is a fair place- Ferrera will be hot and in high demand soon...but, the sad reality is, chances of that happening aren't so hot. Hollywood and audiences around the country are still stuck on rail thin girls who play characters who act as side pieces for top name male actors...It was a refreshing change in this film, and that all the women were real people- they weren't abnormally skinny girls who don't exist in the real world around us. They all did a fantastic job, and I hope Ferrera goes far and has great success in Hollywood. If not, I'll always cast her in my first film (after I finish film school and all) :)
Update- August 6, 2003 (review addition)
"I can't believe I'm leaving in
two weeks to go to teacher's college," says the wholesome
boyfriend to whom Ana will nonchalantly lose her virginity
because, as she admonishes her old-fashioned mother, "Why is
a woman's virginity the only thing that's important? A woman has
thoughts and ideas of her own!"
The paragraph above is from another review written online by
some magazine (I think?)...I wanted to add my own thoughts on the
issue, so I am adding the section below to my review.
This bugged me about Ana's character. It felt as tho they set her
character up to be this smart girl who is somewhat shy, but
confident at the same time. I mean, maybe not shy per se, but she
didn't seem THAT outgoing, and because of her body image issues (cause
by her mother in large part), it would seem that she wouldn't be
so casual about sex. It seemed almost silly to me that an 18 yr
old girl with her body (I think her body is fine, but let's face
it, most people would call her fat), would stand in front of the
mirror like it was nothing, telling her boyfriend to turn the
light on and look at her body.
It was clear that Ana was proud of who she is and what she looked
like, but it seems to me that not even women who are classic
beauties would be that open with their bodies THAT soon. This is
a boy whom she got all flustered with when she ran into him at
school, and seemed shocked that he wanted her number...she was
also very awkward on their first date, even mentioning how she
made a list of stuff to talk about, so they wouldn't run out of
things to say...which says to me- she's somewhat shy, and
especially with this boy and this new relationship. I saw this as
a flaw in the script, because it seemed to go against what her
character was like. It felt weird that she had sex with him so
soon into the relationship, and that she really seemed like he
was just a quick fling, tho they set us up to feel like it was an
important part of the film. I felt a bit cheated in that regard,
because I thought they were great together, and their date scenes
were sweet...and for the love of God, why would a girl like Ana
have sex with the boy, then tell him to forget about her, it's
okay- you'll go off to college and meet some skinny girl probably...she's
fine with it the way it is. It didn't fit for me.