alexrene-80054 The film begins with a horrifying story of rape and violence told through the song of an elderly woman who lays dying on her bed. She describes her horrific experiences during the years of the conflict in Peru between Sendero Luminoso, a left wing guerrilla group, and the Peruvian government. Though she has lost much in the conflict, including her husband whose emasculation and murder she describes in her song, she has left behind a daughter, Fausta, who becomes our protagonist. Fausta and her family do not have money to bury her mother or return her body to their village, so Fausta accepts work in the home of a wealthy white pianist. Fausta and her family are indigenous, and live in poverty in Lima, Peru where wealth, class, and race are all still intertwined. Fausta shares her mothers penchant for composing songs and her boss, who is struggling to complete a piece by her recital date, encourages Fausta to sing for her. When Fausta finishes her song, the boss performs it to a standing ovation in a packed theater. When tries to have her work acknowledged she is left abandoned on the dark streets of Lima, a terrifying fate for Fausta who has a crippling fear of men and is afraid of being assaulted like her mother was.What Claudia Llosa has done perfectly here is capture the undertones of race, sex, and class that define so much of most modern societies. Fausta fears rape and this fear is especially valid given that she is an indigenous woman. If Fausta were not both indigenous and a woman, the threat of rape or any other form of violation would not be so understandable. Native people in Peru are often limited by a governmental/societal system that not only devalues them, but actively targeted them in the recent past. Though Fausta's fears stem from the past treatment of indigenous woman in Peru, her boss's duplicity is a product of a modern social structure that has not changed too drastically from previous decades. This is the context that makes her boss's strong reaction to her quiet comments so powerful. How dare Fausta, a poor indigenous woman, try to take any credit for her own work? Fausta attacked Peru's system of societal system by simply acknowledging it, when quiet acceptance of the creative theft was the expectation. In La Teta Asustada, Llosa displays the two extremes of oppression. The first being violence, and the latter silence.

lmirandalcii La teta asustada (2009), directed by Claudia Llosa, tells the story of Fausta—an indigenous young woman who is subject to the poverty presently dominating much of rural Peru in the aftermath of heinous crimes that surged throughout most of the country during the second half of the twentieth century. Set in the outskirts of Lima, Fausta's story is one in which the protagonist undergoes immense character development as she faces various obstacles after her mother's death (at the beginning of the film). These trials challenge her several fears, including her extreme aversion towards men and her seemingly excessive fear of being raped.The film's title stems from the commonly held belief that Fausta suffers from a disease transmitted to her from her mother during breast-feeding. Prior to her death, Fausta's mother sings about the horrible violence she endured earlier in life. She and her family believe her mother's fears were thus transmitted to Fausta. This "illness" manifests itself through various "symptoms," such as Fausta's reluctance to go out and do anything without the company of an individual she trusts, as well as through her shocking decision to place a potato inside her vagina in hopes of preventing rape.Overall, the plot revolves around Fausta overcoming these fears, in addition to her marginalized role as a poor, indigenous woman, in order to obtain enough money to afford a proper burial for her mother's corpse. The main criticism I offer regarding this film is that it falls short of providing both insight into and a brief history of the horrific violence that surged through Peru in the late 1900s. In providing the audience with a world-view likely unfamiliar to them, Llosa assumes that the viewer is familiar with this violence, which may lead to confusion at various points. Without background information, it is easy for the viewer to assume Fausta's fears are completely and utterly irrational, which I believe can be detrimental to the viewing experience.

sl-pierce Claudia Llosa writes a peculiar, but captivating story of a young Peruvian girl living in a constant world of fear on the outskirts of Lima. Fausta is believed to be suffering from a rare disease, "La teta asustada," or the "Milk of Sorrow," which was transmitted from her mother's breast milk after she was raped by terrorists during the time of Sendero Luminoso. Facing her mother's death, Fausta is forced to overcome her fear and work in the Big House of a limeña musician. While both the music and filming are stunning, I feel that the film lacks much action or thick plot. I found it to be more of a journey, one that led Fausta from her fear to a glimpse of her freedom. Furthermore, as a viewer who has lived in Peru, the film was very nostalgic for me and I felt that it portrayed Lima and the "pueblos" with a profound sincerity. If you are looking for a poetic and beautiful journey of a story, this film is exactly that.

yiuclaudia I was so touched by this film, which is obviously a low budget production. It proves that you do not need a multi-billion budget to make a good movie. I think only women can understand fully the pain and the fear the heroine had to go through. I wonder if they produce a sound track for the movie. The songs by the heroine and that sonata adopted by the pianist were beautiful. Solier is a great actress and her facial features, well, what can I say, is not the kind of glamour you find on screens. She has character, reflecting her heritage. I immediately take a liking of her from the first few scenes.I It is disturbing to find people snubbing such a beautiful movie but I guess everyone to his/her tase.