Babette’s feast

I have been gratefully surprised by this film. I have never watched, but I love it. Babette’s feast is not only about food, is about feelings. No sooner have you started the film than you realize how intense it is. You can appreciate the power of the singing, how the religion involves everything, or how the passage of time works on people. Going further, I could see, as Sabina sang once, future in pupils of mature men (and women). In the last scene, when they are having dinner, you ought to gaze at the expression of their faces. It seems they had a blank stare, thinking about the past, about something they lost. Nevertheless, they are happy. They look like teenagers full of life. It is amazing. Though, the most important business here is food. Babette wants to be grateful, so spends the whole money in a dinner to do honor to father’s ladies’ name. You can see the moment of the change, how that feast becomes better than was at the beginning, when they thought that could be a sin. The taste of drinks and dishes changes the faces of people, making them happier, more human, understanding with the others, capable of forgiveness.

Another film I strongly recommend is ‘Like water for chocolate’, by Laura Esquivel. I watched in my twenties and I fell in love with it. It is about food, the whole scene. And love. A young girl has to give up on love in order to take care of her mother because she is the little sister. So she put all her love on cooking for her family, and for her man, who has married with her elder’s sister. It is essential for us to understand how love and food are connected here. The final picture is awesome. You should watch if you have time. Let me give you part of the film, where Tita, the girl, receives some flowers that she must throw because they are from her husband’s sister. However, she cooks a delicious dish with them. Love is the most powerful weapon. Learn the lesson.