Volver

This film is considered a tribute to women and their resilience in the face of life's most outrageous tribulations.  Each woman portrayed in the movie was supporting herself without the help of a man.  Sole even had her own salon business out of her home.  They had many events in their life that would have made a lot of people breakdown, but they all seemed to just get stronger each time they went through another tough time in their lives.  Raimundo dealt with abuse as a child, then an abusive husband.  She mothered a child by her own father, and then had to deal with that child killing her husband.  Not only did Raimundo not seem to bat an eye at the murder, she easily was able to compose herself and cover it up.  The other women in the film also were strong-willed.  Raimundo's mother dealt with a cheating husband, and then lived her life in hiding after she killed him.  Raimundo and her mother were able to call a truce after many years of holding grudges.  Aunt Paula passed away and Augustina was diagnosed with cancer.  It seemed that all the women joined together and supported each other throughout their tragedies.

There were many superstitious beliefs in this movie.  Most apparent was the village people believing in the spirits and being convinced that Irene had come back from the dead to care for Paula.  Also, they cleaned the graves and even had their own graves before they were dead and kept those clean too.