Blog 3

Liam Breslin
Dr. Esa
Reel Food: Blog 2
2/16/20
Blog 3
Mostly Martha explores multiple themes within its foreign (to an American audience) setting. Food is intertwined with the ideas of love, romance, circumstance, borders, etc. We see the various key characters enthrall themselves more within these themes as the movie progresses. 
Food is the focal point in this film, at least for the main character, Martha. We see her cooking and working long hours within the kitchen at the start of the film. Soon, Martha’s sister passes away shattering and disrupting Martha's normally non-stop lifestyle for more than one reason. A: She has lost her dear sister whom she was close with, and B: Martha now needs to take care of her young niece, Lina, until Lina’s father can take her to Italy to live with him. As well as Lina's unexpected arrival, Martha also is accompanied at work by a new cook Mario. At this point in the film, love/romance is depicted as more of a luxury that Martha simply does not have the time to afford herself, in any which way. The only form of “love” Martha knows at this point is her love of cooking/food.
As the movie progresses, this luxury that Martha cant seem to obtain becomes less and less distant. Her relationship with Lina, although at some points sad with the loss of Lina's mother, grows and grows with their time together. As for Mario, food becomes means of him getting closer and closer to Martha romantically until finally they end up together. Although there are some moments of conflict/sadness between Martha and both Lina and Mario, by the end of the film, food helps propel the concepts of love/romance and the overall sense of film within Martha’s reach, and she certainly reaches back out. 

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