Reviews - Trinity University

Mi Familia/My Family
in order to minimize their fear of her sexual power, want to
find her out to be ca~trated.~ This, of course, operates on an
unconscious level. Her objectification is verbalized by one of
Chucho’s friends who informs him, “I would give my left nut
for a moment with her in the back seat of my Chevy.” The lack
of overt outrage on the part of Chucho on hearing this remark
against his sister positions the spectator as partner to the
complicitous gender implications of Chucho’s silence. Even
though Toni is portrayed as a liberalized monja and social activist,
her character offers only brief opposition to patriarchy.
Early in the film, Toni is removed from the narrative to pursue
her religious calling while Paco’s voice-over reinforces sexist
discourse by informing the audience, “We all thought it was a
little strange that Toni wanted to become a nun but then she
was the bossy type and that is the type that usually becomes
a nun.” This message marks Tony’s removal from the family
and communicates to the spectator that assertive Chicanas
have no place in the family, unless female desire and agency
can be managed by the male, here symbolized by the Catholic
church. Toni is forced to abdicate her oppositional resistance
to patriarchy, recalling historical accounts of Sor Juana Ines
de la Cruz.’O Toward the end of the film Toni reenters the narrative
by announcing to her parents that she has left the religious
order and married a former priest. On hearing this
information, Maria faints, a moment intended as comic relief
but at Toni’s expense, as a close-up of her face reveals her fears
about the consequences her actions might have for the family.
A flashback shows a partially robed Toni engaged in the throes
of lovemaking and a dissolve transposes the scene of past
sexual pleasure on to the present Maria’s gasping for air. Even
though the love scene conveys what Toni envisions are her
mother’s worst fears, its place in the narrative appears to serve
only as male sexual titillation. Her character is not developed
to reveal to the spectator Toni’s religious angst or moral conflict
with the teachings of the church.
Irene serves in the narrative as chorus during family gatherings
or in times of crisis, such as when the family is reunited
after Chucho’s foreseeable death. Toni and Irene function more
as adornments than as Chicana subjects. The choice to portray
these female characters as two dimensional appears intentional
on the part of the filmmaker insofar as he provides
male characters with a “space” to frolic in patriarchal bonding,
violence, and the histrionics of wounded macho. The ab-
145