Aleyah Casias

May 4, 2016

English 1101

Hughes
Latino Film festival: Un Otoo sin Berln

The Latino Film festival has been a wonderful ongoing event for the past 32 years. It is
filled with movies that celebrate Hispanic culture, directors and countries of Spanish speakers.
One such movie that was featured was Un Otoo sin Berlin which means an autumn without
Berlin. It starts off with a girl on a bus wearing a red sweater she has a few bags and finally
reaches her destination in the middle of the night. She rings the doorbell of an apartment in
which she says I have returned Diego. She is met with no reply rejected she makes her way to
her home where she sees her brother playing video games through the window she watches him
endearingly. She then has a touching reunion with her brother. You can sense there is tension in
the air as her brother says father will be angry. The next day she returns to the apartments where
she is finally let in she is met will an emotionless man. Silence fills the air as he asks where she
has been. She says Berlin which causes a painful reaction within him. After she replies no I was
not I would never go with you. The movie continues as they gain a somewhat normal routine. We
learn that they were boyfriend and girlfriend and Diego has a problem often shutting himself in
for days at a time. He is not even able to go outside having his mother take care of all his grocery
shopping for him.
This keeps your curiosity as silence creates tension throughout the movie and slowly you
learn more about what has happened that has brought them to this place in time. It creates a
feeling of being put in the middle of the story rather than the traditional start at the beginning,
middle and end. This in a sense makes you clueless and puts a new exciting twist on a rather
simple and perhaps even unimportant common everyday occurrence. The simple plot of she has

returned makes you wonder why she left and to answer that question you must go on this journey
with her. This adds to the story as it does not readily give anything away but in a sense makes
you work for the information you so long to know. As the movie progresses this so what simple
plot throws different conflicts at you ones you must try to decode and try to understand. Another
plot line includes her conflict with her father. Once again the silence takes over making nothing
clear or completely obvious. In other movies this would be a mistake and complete disaster but
in this instance it works well. The silence allows you time to put all the pieces together, absorb
all the emotions involved and gives you time to draw your own conclusions. Later we discover
the reason behind the tension she has with her father. The tension is intertwined with the reason
why she left. Her mother had passed away after that she left her life behind her leaving her father
and brother behind in a time of mourning. As this tension builds other subplots create new
exciting twists and turn distracting from the main conflicts at hand gives a chance to release
some of the current tensions and conflicts.
Another side plot is when she finds a job as a French tutor to a young boy who she
befriends. This sub plots adds a whimsical and charming feel to the movie. Just like the
surrounding conflicts also feature this sub plot has a conflict within. We learn the little boy does
not want to learn French but we do not learn why until we journey deeper into the movie
allowing us to get to know the characters and to get more familiar with the main and sub plots.
Out of nowhere the boy confides in June telling her the boys at the French school where his only
friend had gone made him end his hair and he has not seen him since. At first glance you can see
that something does not add up and it is that moment you realize the truth for yourself what has
really occurred. You along with June are able to recognize the truth of what really happened to
this little boys friend as he himself is not able to which creates a feeling of connection with you

and June. This creates a feeling that you and June mutually share knowledge which makes you
feel as if you and June share in an undisclosed secret which makes you feel closer to the
characters. This subplot does not end here. It continues throughout the movie putting in place
piece by piece of an elaborate puzzle. Until one day out of a tranquil moment enjoying a
beautiful day outside resting by a lake the boy asks what really happened to his friend. A brief
pause occurs as June and her friend look at each other and we take a deep breather with her or
either a sharp gasp as she tells him the truth that his friend was sick and has died. He silently
accepts this and as one conflict resolves another one swiftly comes in to replace the tension one
subplot has just resolved.
Early in the movie right after she returns home to live with her boyfriend Diego again she
goes into a book case filled with notebooks each arranged neatly with a title. She takes out a
story called Berlin this peaks your interest and makes you wonder what importance this place has
between these two estranged lovers. She starts reading the notebook and in a sense the director
carefully puts down this subplot only to pick it out later on. When the time is right the director
once again picks up this underlining subplot to throw it in the mix. Diego calls in anger and June
comes rushing to him. He shows her a letter in which she reads and looks at him astonished. The
letter expressed that the story Berlin has won first place in a writing contest with a monetary
reward and a ceremony honoring the writer. A contest he did not enter in but June had entered in
for him.
This takes places directly after June and Diego have had a fight over her friend Anne.
When June first comes back she goes to see her friend who upon returning she finds is heavily
pregnant which makes a scene of June going to a birthing class with Anne for support possible.
This scene provides a release for tension (using humor as the instructor takes things to an

extreme) as June starts to get accustomed once again to this place and the people she has left.
Later this subplot is used in the reverse and causes tension between Diego and June as June and
Diego once again realize they love each other and start to heal as a couple. Conflict collides with
our main characters as June made Diego promise to leave the house to go to the hospital once
Anne had her baby. When the time finally came for Diego to meet June at the hospital she comes
home disappointed as Diego never showed. She packs her bags and leaves to her fathers house.
The plot continues to thicken when that letter in the mail once again brings them together. She
tells Diego he has to go which would mean leaving the house. He simply answers no. He seems
scared but in the end you begin to feel that his love for June has begun to heal him. He goes to
the ceremony to accept the award although he makes June accept the reward on his half.
You begin to feel hopeful as the couple come together and agree to go to berlin together a
place they had always wanted to go see together. June has always wanted to go to Berlin but only
with Diego the man she loves which inspired Diego to write the story Berlin in the first place.
June says we can go to Berlin which Diego responds like in the story to which she relies better.
This all contributes to the feeling as hopefulness and progress as you sense the ending of the
story is imminent. You see the happy couple packing as they aim to start a new adventure
together. June goes to her fathers house in which the happy uplifting scene shows she has
reconciled with her father as he exciting helps her pack for her trip they depart with hugs not
knowing when or if she will ever be coming back. She says goodbye to her young pupil who has
not leaned French but learned a vital life lesson instead. The mother hands her a check as she
apologizes the mother does not seem to care as her son lovingly hugs June not eager to say good
bye to her. You sense that June has given the boy something much more important than a few
French lessons, which is friendship. She finally makes her last stop to her friend Annes House

to see her new baby. This gives you a feeling of a new beginning as Anne says good bye once
again to her friend. This pulls you in as you feel the emotion these two friends have for each
other. As everything seems to be coming to nicely wrapped bow, tying all conflicts together
neatly resolving each one. This story once again throws you a curve ball. June comes home to
find Diego locked away in his room which June and the audience now know is the end. This
makes your heart drop as you come to the realization that Diego is not going to go to Berlin with
her. He has reverted back to his old self unable to move on and get past his affliction. It is then
you see June take her back wearing the same old red sweater she had worn when she had
returned back on the bus.
The ending is hard to accept as you are stunned and plead for this not to be the end.
Overall this movie with its many silences in between conflicts made you become invested in the
story. After all that work trying to put the puzzle pieces together you find that the picture on the
puzzle box you were supposed to be putting together does not look at all like the puzzle that is
currently before your eyes. The unexpected has happened which you cannot account for or begin
to make sense of. This story line keeps you guessing and entertained from start to finish as you
struggle to keep up and play detective. I t manages to reveal little by little each conflict,
resolving and creating tension. It manages to take a simple topic with limited words to draw you
in and keep the storyline engaging. The aspects of this movie make it a great cinematic
achievement. The constant twist and turns with the final shocking ending will ensure that you
will thing about nothing else for at least a while. So be forewarned, watch out! The ending of this
movie will catch you off guard and kill you in the end in the best possible way.