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Review: Biutiful (2010)
I was trying to figure out what this movie was trying to tell me, but I think the "point" of it was just the tale of one man trying to make sense of his life as it ended.
I didn't love Biutiful as much as Iñárritu's earlier moves Amores Perros or 21 Grams, but I still thought that this was an interesting movie, particularly if you are a fan of Javier Bardem.
Spoilers.
Story
Uxbal was a man working in mostly illegal operations. He brokered business deals between Senegalese street vendors and Chinese manufacturers of forged goods, both illegal. He was separated from his wife who suffered from substance abuse issues, and struggled to raise his kids alone. He'd recently found out that he had terminal cancer. And on top of that, Uxbal seemed to be grappling with his role as a father, due to his lack of a father figure in his own life.
In terms of the illegal operations story line, the police went after the street vendors despite Uxbal's bribes, and deported several of them. One of them was Ekweme, whose wife Ige and son Samuel were left in Spain.
For the Chinese workers, Uxbal had tried to get them some work (illegally) on a construction site. However, all of the Chinese workers (including some women and children) died of carbon monoxide poisoning after Uxbal bought some cheap space heaters that leaked.
From these two story lines, Uxbal carried a lot of guilt, for not doing enough to stop the police, and for buying the faulty space heaters.
Uxbal had tried to reconnect with his wife Marambra after she came back from rehab. I think he was hoping that the relationship would work out as he knew he was dying. But over the course of the movie, he found out that she would treat them unfairly and hit them, which was unacceptable. Uxbal took the kids back and Marambra returned the wedding ring. By the end of the movie, Marambra was back in rehab. But it left a huge worry on Uxbal's mind because now he had no one to take care of the kids.
Uxbal had previously allowed Ige to stay in his old apartment, as he had moved to Marambra's. When they left Marambra's, Uxbal and Ige kind of had a cohabitation agreement. Ultimately, Uxbal asked Ige to take his money and to raise the kids. In a scene near the end of the movie, Ige took Mateo to school, and then took the money and Samuel to a train station. Later at night, Uxbal saw someone returning, and when asked if it was Ige, they said yes. But as the viewer, we could not clearly see their face, so it's left ambiguous as to whether Ige actually changed her mind and returned to the apartment.
Uxbal was also pondering over what it meant to be a father. He had limited time to be the best father he could be, but what does being a good father mean? His father had fled Spain for political reasons and he'd never met him, but Uxbal never seemed to have thought poorly of his father. On the other hand, we did see instances of Uxbal struggling to build a connection with his kids, particularly Mateo, who was a bit more rowdy. I'll talk more about this below.
At the end of the movie, Uxbal passed away while in bed, accompanied by his daughter. He passed on the wedding ring to his daughter as a last gift before he left. He was at peace with his daughter, but it's hard to say that he left them in the position that he had wanted to. We don't know if Ige returned, and even if she did, would she be willing to take care of two kids who were dumped on her? If she did, that's still no replacement for the kids' own father. If she didn't, who'd be there to take care of the kids? Marambra was in rehab, and Tito hardly seems like the most responsible guy. But alas, he had no choice but to go. When he died, Uxbal finally met his father for the first time, but I think this was probably Uxbal's idea of what his father was like, as he repeated a lot of the jokes or sayings that Uxbal said during the movie, things he probably picked up from his mother as second-hand stories about his dad.
Like I said, I don't think this movie was supposed to be about a point, but just for us to see how Uxbal tried to make the most of his life before he had to go.
Production
In terms of the direction style, I thought this movie was great, as expected from Alejandro González Iñárritu. The way the story was told was engaging.
But the visuals were grueling, and they had to be, to show us how bleak Uxbal's situation was. Both the African street vendors and the Chinese workers were living in very run down homes. In actuality, the Chinese workers were locked in in a basement of their factory (which was part of what led to the carbon monoxide poisoning). Uxbal's own apartment was pretty run down too, and I can see why Marambra's apartment was so attractive. It was a nicer place. Just everywhere Uxbal went, I felt kind of...murky.
Javier Bardem was really the main character of this movie, and mostly everything revolved around him. I thought his acting was pretty good, but I wasn't blown away, mostly because I'm mostly neutral towards Javier Bardem as an actor. But I think anybody who is a fan of his would really enjoy his work here.
Characters
Uxbal
Uxbal really was the central character here. For maybe the first half of the movie, I think the story was trying to convince me that Uxbal was a good person. The way things were portrayed, he was trying to help out the African and Chinese workers. He was trying to be a good father.
But as the movie went on, I realized that...Uxbal isn't exactly clear of conscience himself. He does a lot of shady shit. It's to get by, but it's shady nonetheless. I'm not sure how one gets into brokering illegal deals, but I'd be willing to bet that Uxbal was doing such things for quite a long time.
Obviously Marambra wasn't a great parent, but was Uxbal a good one either? He provided for them, but with illegal money. While he wasn't leaving them by choice, he did technically have a responsilibity to set them up for life before he went, and it's unclear to both us and him whether he was able to do so by the end of the movie.
Basically, I think Uxbal had been short-sighted for a lot of his life. He'd make decisions that seemed good at the time but now that time's passed, he spends a lot of time patching them up.
But as I mentioned above, Uxbal didn't have any choice as to when he was going to go. He didn't have the luxury of being able to make sure everything was fine before he went. He just had to hope that he'd done enough.
Marambra
Marambra was Uxbal's wife. She had alcoholism problems, and worked as a "masseuse" but I think it was implied that she was a prostitute.
Marambra was whimsical and rowdy, which was a contrast to Uxbal. It really annoyed Uxbal at first, but I think Uxbal tried to make things work with her, tried to remember how he fell in love with her, in hopes that he could leave the children in her care. At one point, things really seemed to be going well. Marambra had even booked a vacation for all four of them.
But things fell apart eventually. He found out that Marambra was hitting Mateo when he was being bad, as opposed to Uxbal who'd just send him to his room. She would also neglect Mateo, leaving him at home alone while she went on the vacation with Ana because Mateo was being bad. We did see that Uxbal would get frustrated with Mateo, but Marambra's actions were abusive and neglectful as well.
Uxbal decided that Marambra was not reliable, and so he took the kids back. Marambra was upset and threw her wedding ring back at Uxbal. Marambra was later found at Tito's place (it was implied that they slept together), and by the end of the movie, she was back in rehab.
Tito
Tito was Uxbal's brother. He was a lot more easygoing than Uxbal, but that's not to say that he wasn't also shady. He ran a strip club/bar and I think he did also help Uxbal with brokering illegal deals.
During the movie, Uxbal and Tito were discussing selling their father's burial place and cremating the ashes instead. That would give them money, I guess, but I'm not sure if there were any other reasons for doing so.
In any case, Tito was largely involved in Uxbal's life. When Uxbal tried to go to Tito for help about the Chinese workers, Tito kind of blew him off and told him to relax and party instead. I think that revealed to Uxbal that Tito wasn't really somebody he could rely on to take care of his kids either.
Ana
Ana was the older of Uxbal's kids. She was more well-behaved, which made sense. But she was also more perceptive of her father. She realized that her father was very ill and she was the one who came to accompany him when he was dying.
Mateo
Mateo was the younger of Uxbal's kids. Generally, he was more troublesome, but also, he was a kid. Uxbal did lose his patience with Mateo at times, but he'd always ask him to go to his room instead of hitting him. And we saw that Uxbal would try to make it up to Mateo sometimes, even if it was just a hug.
Only when Mateo went to live with Marambra, did we hear more of his misbehaviour. Apparently he was smoking, which was something we'd never seen, at least not from Uxbal's point of view. He'd also called Marambra a prostitute, which angered her. Whether or not it was true, it was still hurtful and meant to be as such.
And in retaliation, Marambra would lash out, hit Mateo, or straight up neglect him. Mateo was naughty, but he was a child who needed guidance and care.
These were some of the major signs that showed Uxbal that Mateo wasn't going to be receiving the parenting he needed with Marambra.
Bea
In addition to his illegal dealings, Uxbal was apparently also some sort of seer who could communicate with the dead. It was touched on very briefly, but largely unrelated to the plot.
Uxbal's mentor in this regard was Bea. He'd confided in her about his impending death. He was worried about caring for his kids. Bea was kind of zen about it, saying that things would work out, but we saw that Bea was in a much better living condition than Uxbal, and she probably wasn't in such financial hardship as he was, so her words were hollow to him.
Bea gave Uxbal two stones, meant as lucky charms to protect the kids, and Uxbal gave these to Ana and Mateo on Ana's birthday.
Hai
Hai was the boss of the Chinese manufacturer that would create handbags and DVDs to be sold by the street vendors. He was more of a pacifist, wanting the relationship with Uxbal to be amicable, as he relied on Uxbal for business.
When the street vendors were caught by the police, Hai needed to find other sources of revenue, so Uxbal tried to find construction work for them. It wasn't ideal as none of the workers had construction experience, but it was the only thing they could get.
Before the workers were successfully transitioned into doing construction work, however, they'd died from carbon monoxide poisoning.
Hai's approach to the crimes was to lay low. However, Li Wei's attempt to sink the bodies into the river didn't work, and Hai's entire family was captured by the police.
Hai was having an affair with Li Wei, who was kind of his second-in-command at the factory. Li Wei was often the one who initiated the relationship, so I think that Hai was kind of...repressed with respect to his sexuality. I think his wife knew that something was going on between Hai and Li Wei, but it's hard to say whether others knew the truth behind it.
That being said, Li Wei's clumsy attempt to cover up the murders endangered Hai's whole family. Close to the end of the movie, we saw a scene where Hai left Li Wei's apartment, and the camera panned to a bloody Li Wei on his bed. I'm unsure whether Li Wei had committed suicide or whether Hai had killed him. I'm also unsure as to whether they had sex one final time. But in any case, Hai could no longer be associated with Li Wei, who was too volatile to run as part of his business. Hai did ultimately prioritize his business and stability over Li Wei.
Li Wei
As mentioned, Li Wei was pretty much Hai's second-in-command and his secret lover (though how secret that is is vague). Li Wei was pretty combative when negotiating business with Uxbal.
They'd argued over Uxbal's cut of the deal with the Chinese workers were sent to the construction site. And later on, Li Wei attributed the workers' deaths to Uxbal, who'd bought the dangerous heaters.
Li Wei tried to dispose of the bodies by sinking them in the river/ocean, but it didn't work, and all of them floated ashore. The sheer number of bodies plus the fact that there were women and children in the mix, brought huge negative publicity, and severely endangered the whole operation.
As mentioned, Li Wei ended up dead by the end of the movie. Whether it was by his own hand or Hai's didn't really matter anymore. To Hai, what Li Wei had done was too dangerous and he couldn't keep him from endangering his livelihood anymore, regardless of how devoted Li Wei claimed to be to Hai. As much as Li Wei was tolerated before, probably for being a help to Hai's business, he could no longer be tolerated, least of all by Hai's family.
Lili
Lili was one of the Chinese workers who had a baby. She often babysat Ana and Mateo for Uxbal, and we saw taht she and Ana had a very good relationship.
Thus, when the workers were found dead, Uxbal was distraught at seeing Lili and her baby both dead, partially by his hand.
Ekweme
Ekweme was one of the Senegalese street vendors who was captured by the police, and deported back to Senegal. Ekweme wanted his wife to stay in Spain as their son was born Spanish, and that there was no hope for them in Senegal.
Ige
Ige was Ekweme's wife, who was stuck in Spain with their child Samuel. Ige really wanted to return to Senegal to be with Ekweme. Ekweme was thinking of Samuel's future first, whereas Ige felt that being with family was more important. It's hard to say who was right. Both are right in their own ways, and it's hard to say that either was wrong.
After Uxbal took Ana and Mateo back from Marambra, he was living with Ige for a while, and he relied on her to pick up and drop off the kids from school, and also to help him when he was severely ill.
Uxbal kind of took advantage of Ige, trying to give her money to push the kids onto her. It was a huge ask, considering Ige really wasn't in a great position herself, and Ana and Mateo had no relation to her.
Ige took the money and went to the train station, but it was uncertain whether she did flee to Senegal or not. Either way, Ige was a very iffy and unreliable plan for Uxbal, as Ige was only a vague acquaintance and not even a close friend.
It's understandable that Ige would have her own priorities, namely her son and husband.
Policeman
There was a policeman that Uxbal would give his bribes to, in order to keep the police from going after the street vendors. Even though he'd given them the bribe for the month, the police had gone after the vendors, brutally arresting many of them and deporting them.
Uxbal had set up a meeting with the policeman to figure out what went on. The policeman basically said that things were out of his control. All he could do was take the bribe and pass on the message, and that he couldn't really control the other policemen.
The policeman also told Uxbal to stop acting like a martyr, like he cared for the livelihoods of the vendors. The policeman did think that Uxbal was really more worried about making money than he was for those families being split apart. Basically, the policeman felt that Uxbal was trying to "oh, woe is me and these families" when in reality he wasn't the greatest person on the planet.
Themes
Fatherhood
What makes a good father? Is it the financial support, the emotional support, or just leaving the child with the memory of a good person?
Uxbal never knew his own father, but he didn't seem to think poorly of him. All he knew of him was the factual information, that he'd fled Spain and died two weeks later from pneumonia. Perhaps it was the work of his mother, telling him stories about his own father, that led Uxbal to see his father in a good light. After he died and "met" his father, it did seem like Uxbal and his father (or what he thought was his father) were on amicable terms.
We could see that Uxbal tried to be a good father to his kids, providing for them financial, but not really having much time to play with them. We did also see times when he got frustrated with them. Would Ana or Mateo remember Uxbal fondly? Would they think of him as a good father? I think that Ana probably would. Ana was old enough to be able to tell her father that she didn't want him to go. She didn't know the extent of his illegal and shady activities, but even if she did when she was older, I still think she'd remember her father as she did now, as the man who tried to provide for their kids even when he couldn't.
I briefly mentioned Ige and Ekweme. Ekweme was insistent on providing the most stable life for their child. In Spain, Samuel would have a lot of opportunities for advancement. On the other hand, Ige just wanted them to be together, which was equally valid, as Samuel would grow up knowing his father.
None of these approaches to fatherhood are perfect, but people try to be the best parent they can given their limited circumstances and absences.
Overall
I had more to say about this movie than I'd anticipated. I thought I'd barely have anything to say about the side characters but it turns out I had a lot to say lol. So I guess the way the story was weaved through Uxbal was very well done.
I would probably recommend this movie for those looking for a very serious drama movie. I felt that the tone of the movie was quite solemn and grave, so I wouldn't recommend it for those looking for something more lighthearted.
I didn't love Biutiful as much as Iñárritu's earlier moves Amores Perros or 21 Grams, but I still thought that this was an interesting movie, particularly if you are a fan of Javier Bardem.
Spoilers.
Story
Uxbal was a man working in mostly illegal operations. He brokered business deals between Senegalese street vendors and Chinese manufacturers of forged goods, both illegal. He was separated from his wife who suffered from substance abuse issues, and struggled to raise his kids alone. He'd recently found out that he had terminal cancer. And on top of that, Uxbal seemed to be grappling with his role as a father, due to his lack of a father figure in his own life.
In terms of the illegal operations story line, the police went after the street vendors despite Uxbal's bribes, and deported several of them. One of them was Ekweme, whose wife Ige and son Samuel were left in Spain.
For the Chinese workers, Uxbal had tried to get them some work (illegally) on a construction site. However, all of the Chinese workers (including some women and children) died of carbon monoxide poisoning after Uxbal bought some cheap space heaters that leaked.
From these two story lines, Uxbal carried a lot of guilt, for not doing enough to stop the police, and for buying the faulty space heaters.
Uxbal had tried to reconnect with his wife Marambra after she came back from rehab. I think he was hoping that the relationship would work out as he knew he was dying. But over the course of the movie, he found out that she would treat them unfairly and hit them, which was unacceptable. Uxbal took the kids back and Marambra returned the wedding ring. By the end of the movie, Marambra was back in rehab. But it left a huge worry on Uxbal's mind because now he had no one to take care of the kids.
Uxbal had previously allowed Ige to stay in his old apartment, as he had moved to Marambra's. When they left Marambra's, Uxbal and Ige kind of had a cohabitation agreement. Ultimately, Uxbal asked Ige to take his money and to raise the kids. In a scene near the end of the movie, Ige took Mateo to school, and then took the money and Samuel to a train station. Later at night, Uxbal saw someone returning, and when asked if it was Ige, they said yes. But as the viewer, we could not clearly see their face, so it's left ambiguous as to whether Ige actually changed her mind and returned to the apartment.
Uxbal was also pondering over what it meant to be a father. He had limited time to be the best father he could be, but what does being a good father mean? His father had fled Spain for political reasons and he'd never met him, but Uxbal never seemed to have thought poorly of his father. On the other hand, we did see instances of Uxbal struggling to build a connection with his kids, particularly Mateo, who was a bit more rowdy. I'll talk more about this below.
At the end of the movie, Uxbal passed away while in bed, accompanied by his daughter. He passed on the wedding ring to his daughter as a last gift before he left. He was at peace with his daughter, but it's hard to say that he left them in the position that he had wanted to. We don't know if Ige returned, and even if she did, would she be willing to take care of two kids who were dumped on her? If she did, that's still no replacement for the kids' own father. If she didn't, who'd be there to take care of the kids? Marambra was in rehab, and Tito hardly seems like the most responsible guy. But alas, he had no choice but to go. When he died, Uxbal finally met his father for the first time, but I think this was probably Uxbal's idea of what his father was like, as he repeated a lot of the jokes or sayings that Uxbal said during the movie, things he probably picked up from his mother as second-hand stories about his dad.
Like I said, I don't think this movie was supposed to be about a point, but just for us to see how Uxbal tried to make the most of his life before he had to go.
Production
In terms of the direction style, I thought this movie was great, as expected from Alejandro González Iñárritu. The way the story was told was engaging.
But the visuals were grueling, and they had to be, to show us how bleak Uxbal's situation was. Both the African street vendors and the Chinese workers were living in very run down homes. In actuality, the Chinese workers were locked in in a basement of their factory (which was part of what led to the carbon monoxide poisoning). Uxbal's own apartment was pretty run down too, and I can see why Marambra's apartment was so attractive. It was a nicer place. Just everywhere Uxbal went, I felt kind of...murky.
Javier Bardem was really the main character of this movie, and mostly everything revolved around him. I thought his acting was pretty good, but I wasn't blown away, mostly because I'm mostly neutral towards Javier Bardem as an actor. But I think anybody who is a fan of his would really enjoy his work here.
Characters
Uxbal
Uxbal really was the central character here. For maybe the first half of the movie, I think the story was trying to convince me that Uxbal was a good person. The way things were portrayed, he was trying to help out the African and Chinese workers. He was trying to be a good father.
But as the movie went on, I realized that...Uxbal isn't exactly clear of conscience himself. He does a lot of shady shit. It's to get by, but it's shady nonetheless. I'm not sure how one gets into brokering illegal deals, but I'd be willing to bet that Uxbal was doing such things for quite a long time.
Obviously Marambra wasn't a great parent, but was Uxbal a good one either? He provided for them, but with illegal money. While he wasn't leaving them by choice, he did technically have a responsilibity to set them up for life before he went, and it's unclear to both us and him whether he was able to do so by the end of the movie.
Basically, I think Uxbal had been short-sighted for a lot of his life. He'd make decisions that seemed good at the time but now that time's passed, he spends a lot of time patching them up.
But as I mentioned above, Uxbal didn't have any choice as to when he was going to go. He didn't have the luxury of being able to make sure everything was fine before he went. He just had to hope that he'd done enough.
Marambra
Marambra was Uxbal's wife. She had alcoholism problems, and worked as a "masseuse" but I think it was implied that she was a prostitute.
Marambra was whimsical and rowdy, which was a contrast to Uxbal. It really annoyed Uxbal at first, but I think Uxbal tried to make things work with her, tried to remember how he fell in love with her, in hopes that he could leave the children in her care. At one point, things really seemed to be going well. Marambra had even booked a vacation for all four of them.
But things fell apart eventually. He found out that Marambra was hitting Mateo when he was being bad, as opposed to Uxbal who'd just send him to his room. She would also neglect Mateo, leaving him at home alone while she went on the vacation with Ana because Mateo was being bad. We did see that Uxbal would get frustrated with Mateo, but Marambra's actions were abusive and neglectful as well.
Uxbal decided that Marambra was not reliable, and so he took the kids back. Marambra was upset and threw her wedding ring back at Uxbal. Marambra was later found at Tito's place (it was implied that they slept together), and by the end of the movie, she was back in rehab.
Tito
Tito was Uxbal's brother. He was a lot more easygoing than Uxbal, but that's not to say that he wasn't also shady. He ran a strip club/bar and I think he did also help Uxbal with brokering illegal deals.
During the movie, Uxbal and Tito were discussing selling their father's burial place and cremating the ashes instead. That would give them money, I guess, but I'm not sure if there were any other reasons for doing so.
In any case, Tito was largely involved in Uxbal's life. When Uxbal tried to go to Tito for help about the Chinese workers, Tito kind of blew him off and told him to relax and party instead. I think that revealed to Uxbal that Tito wasn't really somebody he could rely on to take care of his kids either.
Ana
Ana was the older of Uxbal's kids. She was more well-behaved, which made sense. But she was also more perceptive of her father. She realized that her father was very ill and she was the one who came to accompany him when he was dying.
Mateo
Mateo was the younger of Uxbal's kids. Generally, he was more troublesome, but also, he was a kid. Uxbal did lose his patience with Mateo at times, but he'd always ask him to go to his room instead of hitting him. And we saw that Uxbal would try to make it up to Mateo sometimes, even if it was just a hug.
Only when Mateo went to live with Marambra, did we hear more of his misbehaviour. Apparently he was smoking, which was something we'd never seen, at least not from Uxbal's point of view. He'd also called Marambra a prostitute, which angered her. Whether or not it was true, it was still hurtful and meant to be as such.
And in retaliation, Marambra would lash out, hit Mateo, or straight up neglect him. Mateo was naughty, but he was a child who needed guidance and care.
These were some of the major signs that showed Uxbal that Mateo wasn't going to be receiving the parenting he needed with Marambra.
Bea
In addition to his illegal dealings, Uxbal was apparently also some sort of seer who could communicate with the dead. It was touched on very briefly, but largely unrelated to the plot.
Uxbal's mentor in this regard was Bea. He'd confided in her about his impending death. He was worried about caring for his kids. Bea was kind of zen about it, saying that things would work out, but we saw that Bea was in a much better living condition than Uxbal, and she probably wasn't in such financial hardship as he was, so her words were hollow to him.
Bea gave Uxbal two stones, meant as lucky charms to protect the kids, and Uxbal gave these to Ana and Mateo on Ana's birthday.
Hai
Hai was the boss of the Chinese manufacturer that would create handbags and DVDs to be sold by the street vendors. He was more of a pacifist, wanting the relationship with Uxbal to be amicable, as he relied on Uxbal for business.
When the street vendors were caught by the police, Hai needed to find other sources of revenue, so Uxbal tried to find construction work for them. It wasn't ideal as none of the workers had construction experience, but it was the only thing they could get.
Before the workers were successfully transitioned into doing construction work, however, they'd died from carbon monoxide poisoning.
Hai's approach to the crimes was to lay low. However, Li Wei's attempt to sink the bodies into the river didn't work, and Hai's entire family was captured by the police.
Hai was having an affair with Li Wei, who was kind of his second-in-command at the factory. Li Wei was often the one who initiated the relationship, so I think that Hai was kind of...repressed with respect to his sexuality. I think his wife knew that something was going on between Hai and Li Wei, but it's hard to say whether others knew the truth behind it.
That being said, Li Wei's clumsy attempt to cover up the murders endangered Hai's whole family. Close to the end of the movie, we saw a scene where Hai left Li Wei's apartment, and the camera panned to a bloody Li Wei on his bed. I'm unsure whether Li Wei had committed suicide or whether Hai had killed him. I'm also unsure as to whether they had sex one final time. But in any case, Hai could no longer be associated with Li Wei, who was too volatile to run as part of his business. Hai did ultimately prioritize his business and stability over Li Wei.
Li Wei
As mentioned, Li Wei was pretty much Hai's second-in-command and his secret lover (though how secret that is is vague). Li Wei was pretty combative when negotiating business with Uxbal.
They'd argued over Uxbal's cut of the deal with the Chinese workers were sent to the construction site. And later on, Li Wei attributed the workers' deaths to Uxbal, who'd bought the dangerous heaters.
Li Wei tried to dispose of the bodies by sinking them in the river/ocean, but it didn't work, and all of them floated ashore. The sheer number of bodies plus the fact that there were women and children in the mix, brought huge negative publicity, and severely endangered the whole operation.
As mentioned, Li Wei ended up dead by the end of the movie. Whether it was by his own hand or Hai's didn't really matter anymore. To Hai, what Li Wei had done was too dangerous and he couldn't keep him from endangering his livelihood anymore, regardless of how devoted Li Wei claimed to be to Hai. As much as Li Wei was tolerated before, probably for being a help to Hai's business, he could no longer be tolerated, least of all by Hai's family.
Lili
Lili was one of the Chinese workers who had a baby. She often babysat Ana and Mateo for Uxbal, and we saw taht she and Ana had a very good relationship.
Thus, when the workers were found dead, Uxbal was distraught at seeing Lili and her baby both dead, partially by his hand.
Ekweme
Ekweme was one of the Senegalese street vendors who was captured by the police, and deported back to Senegal. Ekweme wanted his wife to stay in Spain as their son was born Spanish, and that there was no hope for them in Senegal.
Ige
Ige was Ekweme's wife, who was stuck in Spain with their child Samuel. Ige really wanted to return to Senegal to be with Ekweme. Ekweme was thinking of Samuel's future first, whereas Ige felt that being with family was more important. It's hard to say who was right. Both are right in their own ways, and it's hard to say that either was wrong.
After Uxbal took Ana and Mateo back from Marambra, he was living with Ige for a while, and he relied on her to pick up and drop off the kids from school, and also to help him when he was severely ill.
Uxbal kind of took advantage of Ige, trying to give her money to push the kids onto her. It was a huge ask, considering Ige really wasn't in a great position herself, and Ana and Mateo had no relation to her.
Ige took the money and went to the train station, but it was uncertain whether she did flee to Senegal or not. Either way, Ige was a very iffy and unreliable plan for Uxbal, as Ige was only a vague acquaintance and not even a close friend.
It's understandable that Ige would have her own priorities, namely her son and husband.
Policeman
There was a policeman that Uxbal would give his bribes to, in order to keep the police from going after the street vendors. Even though he'd given them the bribe for the month, the police had gone after the vendors, brutally arresting many of them and deporting them.
Uxbal had set up a meeting with the policeman to figure out what went on. The policeman basically said that things were out of his control. All he could do was take the bribe and pass on the message, and that he couldn't really control the other policemen.
The policeman also told Uxbal to stop acting like a martyr, like he cared for the livelihoods of the vendors. The policeman did think that Uxbal was really more worried about making money than he was for those families being split apart. Basically, the policeman felt that Uxbal was trying to "oh, woe is me and these families" when in reality he wasn't the greatest person on the planet.
Themes
Fatherhood
What makes a good father? Is it the financial support, the emotional support, or just leaving the child with the memory of a good person?
Uxbal never knew his own father, but he didn't seem to think poorly of him. All he knew of him was the factual information, that he'd fled Spain and died two weeks later from pneumonia. Perhaps it was the work of his mother, telling him stories about his own father, that led Uxbal to see his father in a good light. After he died and "met" his father, it did seem like Uxbal and his father (or what he thought was his father) were on amicable terms.
We could see that Uxbal tried to be a good father to his kids, providing for them financial, but not really having much time to play with them. We did also see times when he got frustrated with them. Would Ana or Mateo remember Uxbal fondly? Would they think of him as a good father? I think that Ana probably would. Ana was old enough to be able to tell her father that she didn't want him to go. She didn't know the extent of his illegal and shady activities, but even if she did when she was older, I still think she'd remember her father as she did now, as the man who tried to provide for their kids even when he couldn't.
I briefly mentioned Ige and Ekweme. Ekweme was insistent on providing the most stable life for their child. In Spain, Samuel would have a lot of opportunities for advancement. On the other hand, Ige just wanted them to be together, which was equally valid, as Samuel would grow up knowing his father.
None of these approaches to fatherhood are perfect, but people try to be the best parent they can given their limited circumstances and absences.
Overall
I had more to say about this movie than I'd anticipated. I thought I'd barely have anything to say about the side characters but it turns out I had a lot to say lol. So I guess the way the story was weaved through Uxbal was very well done.
I would probably recommend this movie for those looking for a very serious drama movie. I felt that the tone of the movie was quite solemn and grave, so I wouldn't recommend it for those looking for something more lighthearted.