By Alex Escalada

Alex Escalada (Horizons Committee) writes about Bijou's upcoming screening of The Second Mother, playing March 24 at 6pm at FilmScene!

The Second Mother (Que Horas Ela Volta?), Brazil
 

 

A daughter asks:

Que Horas Ela Volta?

A question that’s been asked for as long as she can remember

Long into the night that knows no distance

 

Jessica

A high school student with a motherless childhood

She fills the absence with resentment, a cold and snarky exterior

It never quite makes the gap whole

The gap her mother left

 

But look where she landed

Always nice clothes on her back; never a lack of food on her plate

And she’s about to take her university entrance exam

Going to college is the stuff of dreams

She could just imagine her mother dancing in pride

Arms waving joyously in the air

But she can only imagine

For she’s forgotten

The last time she saw her face

The last time she heard her voice

All she knows of her mother are packages and envelopes

 

A mother asks:

Que Horas Ela Volta?

A question that’s been asked for as long as she can remember

Long into the night that knows no distance

 

Val

A live-in house maid working in a daughterless house

She fills the absence with a son, the child of her employers

He never quite makes the gap whole

The gap her daughter left

 

But she left out of love

In order to provide, to truly provide

She knew she had to leave

All those hours spent

Cleaning a pool she could never dream of swimming in

Fixing a table she never would be asked to eat at

For a Dona that looked at her like a dog

All for Jessica, her little Jessica

To be able to pay for school

To not be picked on because of her clothes

She smiles thinking about how beautiful her filha must be

But all she can do is guess