Los Olvidados by Mark Polizzotti;

Author:Mark Polizzotti;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury UK
Published: 2019-06-15T00:00:00+00:00

4

MOTHERS MEAT

Played out in relentless slow motion, with starkly contrasted lighting that sets it apart from the rest of the film, Pedro's dream rehearses his guilt over the death of Julián, the corpse under his bed (as children fear nocturnal monsters); his desire to lead an honest life; his unrequited hunger for love and sustenance; and his ill-acknowledged oedipal conflicts. The first part maps out a classic scenario of wish-fulfilment, giving Pedro the maternal tenderness he craves and allowing him to assuage the guilt Jaibo has instilled. But this fulfilment is undercut by the gift his mother then holds out to him, meat that is tainted both literally and, with its aggressively erotic overtones, figuratively: this is not the love Pedro had in mind. (In the shooting script, though not in the film, he shouts in terror, 'No, no, I don't want it!') Jaibo's appearance, moreover, both blocks Pedro's access to the proffered nourishment and steals even this sexualised aspect of his mother's love. The moment Jaibo surges from the bed, Marta loses interest and Pedro is left with nothing: not her affection, not her belief, not even the corrupt flesh she tenders.

This hunk of meat, no doubt the most famous in all of cinema, and the disturbing image of its offer, has come to represent the entire sequence, which is often referred to as the 'mother-meat dream'. The symbolism is so obvious that it can dispense with all commentary, and so insistent that it demands our further attention. On the one hand, the meat clearly displaces Pedro's suppressed carnal desire for this woman he has barely had a chance to know as mother, and who, in her comparative youth and earthy sensuality, stands far apart from the sexless, self-sacrificing maters typical of Mexican films at the time. On the other, it is a nourishment both unattainable and undesirable. In the story, the dream image is motivated by Marta's having refused Pedro a piece of meat during his brief visit home, while preparing it for the other children's dinner. In the dream, the food for which Pedro begged his mother the evening before is inedible, a parody of sustenance without any of its benefits. But more than anything, it embodies the trauma that colours their entire relationship: any love Marta could show her son is tainted at its core by the violence and resentment associated with his conception. For Marta, Pedro will never be more than the unwanted flesh of the assault that has burdened her life.36

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