#17 Sidewalls / Medianeras

"Sidewalls" is an Argentinian film written and directed by Gustavo Taretto. It is a story of a man called Martin and a woman called Mariana who live in the same street, in the capital city of Buenos Aries, but they don’t know each other. Both characters present the same characteristics, they are lonely, phobic and disappointed about life. Although they try really hard to overcome that situation by meeting new people or practising new activities, finally, they end up alone again. Along the movie it is possible to realize that Martin and Mariana share many things in common and, by chance, they face each other on the street.

The turning point in the movie starts when they decide to build a window on the sidewall of their apartment. For many people a new window may be a meaningless thing, however, for Martin and Mariana this is a window for new opportunities. Their new window show them that there is other side of the coin with new possibilities to change their lives. By the end of the film and once they have overcome their fears and problems they, finally, met and became a couple. The symbolic meaning of sidewalls in this film implies the individuality and isolation in which people are living and also make them unable to move forward.

#16 World of Walls

 


Since the fall of the Berlin wall the amount of walls constructed around the world have incredibly grown. Nowadays there are sixty-five countries which are building walls and fences, or which already have them, and the reasons why they decided to build such barriers are varied. The issues involved in building walls depend on their final aim, some are constructed to establish religious differences, others made to increase security and most of them are created to prevent the entrance of immigrants or refugees, drug dealers and terrorist from bordering countries. Even though these barriers provide a sense of safeness, their effectiveness is proved to be limited since people find a way to pass through or to climb them.

It was shocking for me when I learned about the amount of countries which have built walls and fences in order to separate themselves from their neighbouring countries. I strongly believe that walls are not the solution for criminals, drug dealers, terrorists or refugees or to the different difficulties that countries have to face, in fact, they worsen the situation even more. Consequently, I do not think that these walls are going to be pulled down in a near future, there will be more of them in other parts of the world because more countries will prefer to become isolated.

#15 I Build Walls: poem.

I build walls

I build walls:
walls that protect,
walls that shield,
walls that say I shall not yield
or reveal
who I am or how I fell.

I build walls:
walls that hide,
walls that cover what's inside,
walls that stare or smile or look away,
silent lies,
 walls that even block my eyes
from the tears I might have cried.

I build walls:
walls that never let me
truly touch
those I love so very much.
Walls that need to fall!
Walls meant to be fortresses
are prisoners after all.

Analysis:

The writer uses "walls" as a metaphor implying that a person is hiding his/her feelings and thoughts from others and even from him/herself.  Physical walls may be made of stone, brick, or many other material, however, there are other kind of walls called “psychological walls” which are made of thoughts, believes and attitudes. This imaginary barriers that function as a shield for our emotions and thoughts not only prevent us from further suffering situations, but also it places us in a comfort zone where we feel secure and protected.
                In my own experience, I used to be a person who constructed walls to present myself from suffering and I used to believe that showing my emotions would reveal my weaknesses. Even though I felt safe in that position for a long time, lately I realized that I was isolated from the world around me and as time goes by, I decided to change it.
                As long we are part of a society where people behave and think different from us, sometimes we need to build walls because some actions, words, attitudes or emotions that can disturb our lives will not affect us at all. These walls should act as temporary and protective shields, not as prisons from where we can't escape.