Contrary to what its title might suggest, Real Women Have Curves, the winning directorial debut by Patricia Carduso, tells the coming-of-age story of a second-generation Latina woman whose embodiment of Americanized values fuels the divisiveness in her already strained relationship with her mother. The movie, which is set in East Los Angeles, is both funny and strikingly bittersweet in tone, avoids trivializing the realities of the lives of the working poor.
Newcomer America Ferrera plays Ana, the bright and outspoken younger daughter of two working class Latino parents. She somehow snags a permit to attend Beverly Hills High, where her intellect and ambition are nurtured by a caring English teacher, Mr. Guzman (George Lopez). Under his guidance, Ana applies for and is admitted into Columbia University with a full scholarship. However, it is unclear as to whether Ana will be allowed by her parents to leave home for New York.
While her graduation from high school is heralded by her family as a grand accomplishment, Ana's college aspirations do not coincide with her parents' insistence that it is her obligation (one that stems from both cultural tradition and financial necessity) to stay home and work in order to support the family. Ana's father tells his daughter that she could consider attending college when the family can afford it, but this seems unlikely.
When Ana's mother Carmen (Lupe Ontiveros) learns that Ana quit her job at a fast-food joint, she orders her daughter to come to work at Estela's factory, where Carmen is employed as a seamstress. Ana grudgingly joins her mother, Estela, and a group of Latina women at the factory the day after her high school graduation. Up until this point, Ana had been sheltered from the harsh, exploitative conditions under which her mother and sister work to support the family. It is during this, the summer Ana spends working at the factory steaming dresses, when she begins to really grow up.
The ongoing feud between mother and daughter takes center stage at the factory. Now that they are working together, Ana is forced to endure her mother's brutal comments and manipulative stunts on a daily basis.
If Carmen isn't picking on Ana about getting a job or getting married, she is mocking Ana's curvaceous size 12 figure. Carmen makes these comments out of love, under the pretense that she is helping her daughter find a suitable husband. However, Carmen's quips come across as abusive and demoralizing to her Americanized daughter.
After languishing in secondary roles for decades (the actress says she has played a maid at least 150 times in a Los Angeles Times interview), Ontiveros is finally able to come into her own rightfully deserved spotlight in her role as Carmen. She successfully portrays Carmen's manipulative streak and selfishness without making it impossible for audiences to see through her drama queen antics or her dicey comments and sympathize with her. In the movie, Carmen tells her husband, "It's not fair. I've been working since I was 13. It's Ana's turn now." A comment like that could be misconstrued as pure selfishness, but Ontiveros is able to convey that after working hard to support her daughters, Carmen is tired and is justified in expecting her daughters to take care of her.
Ferrera skillfully brings Ana's unresolved adolescent angst to the screen. As a Latina woman raised in the United States, Ana grapples with the rift between her and her mother that stems from the clash of her Americanized ideals and her family's traditional Mexican values. The movie deals with Ana's coming-of-age very delicately; Ana's first romance with a classmate (Brian Sites) is treated with utmost sensitivity. And Ferrera is forceful, and not trite, in the scenes where Ana asserts herself in declaring she accepts her body and in challenging the parameters of her role as a dutiful Mexican daughter .
What makes "Real Women" work is its conscious effort to refute stereotypes about Latino educational attainment. The movie offers an in-depth illustration of how American ideals conflict with cultures that emphasize family solidarity.
On another note, the movie is also charming and liberating in cultivating a positive message about womens bodies. The movie's more light-hearted moments, which include Carmen's drama queen antics and a scene of Full Monty proportions, also makes it worth watching. The film, winner of the "Dramatic Audience Award" at the Sundance Film Festival, deserves to find its way into the consciousness of mainstream American society.
