Identify and defend your categorization of the film's hero, either Don Pedro or Sven Nagel. Think about the different ways each character is presented, cast, shot. Take the complexity of each character into account when making your argument. One option would be to pick a scene and discuss how it functions for the audience. Consider how lighting, sound, and the edition of shots function, including how they seem to represent specific cultural values.
If you prefer, you can instead tease out problem points, where you believe the scene to change shots, perspectives. Be sure to also make use of the actual film: lighting, editing choices. It may be productive to think of the film in terms of things which are not included.
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In the film La Habanera, the hero in the film is without a doubt Sven Nagel. He is the doctor who saves the day, gets the girl, and takes her home back to Sweden away from the savage impure and corrupt world of Puerto Rico. Before I address why Nagel is the hero, I will examine why Don Pedro is not only not the hero, but also a pathetic attempt of a husband. Don Pedro may be the superficial hero; he provides the magical escape of dreary day-to-day life for Astree. When she impulsively decides to stay and get married, she imagines her life as a permanent paradise and holiday. At first marriage to Don Pedro appears glamorous and sexy, but she soon is left with the painful realization that it is all just a front and Don Pedro is boring to say the least. Astree realizes that her life has amounted to nothing but a marriage with burned out passion and extreme homesickness. The conversations between them consist of nothing but the physical well being of their child, which suggests to the audience that not only has the passion died out but that they no longer have anything in common and maybe never did. We as the audience never see Don Pedro coming to her rescue or showing any signs of extreme heroism. He represents the luxuries and extravagance of life but also the fact that they do not last forever and eventually die. While he is rich and powerful, he dies in the end of the film, which signifies that power money and prestige do not prevail and is not the key to ultimate heroism and virtue.
ReplyDeleteAs for Nagel, he is clearly the hero because he comes to Astree's rescue by saving her from her unhappy existence and takes her home away from the impurities and diseased Puerto Rico. The scene that stands out as the scene where Nagel proves his ultimate heroism is when Don Pedro dies and Nagel’s cronies tell him the antidote has been destroyed. For a split second the audience sees a flicker of light in his eyes that I interpret as an as an intense rush of satisfaction. His satisfaction reveals that maybe this was his plan all along; to indirectly see to it that Don Pedro is removed from the equation so that he can have his Astree back. Of course he could have never in reality have planned it to go as smoothly as it did, but he is still the hero because he attempts to save the man who is keeping him from attaining true love. When Don Pedro does die, he is the only barrier that is keeping him from getting back together with his former lover Astree and returning her home with him to the clean and safe and disease free Sweden.