Raising
Victor Vargas, written and directed by Peter Sollett, is
a tragicomedy about the life of a sixteen-year-old Dominican
in New York City and his family. Victor (played by Victor
Rasuk) lives in a small apartment with his grandma, Mrs.
Guzman (played by Altagracia Guzman), his fifteen-year-old
sister Vicky (played by Krystal Rodriguez), and his younger
brother Nino (played by Silvestre Rasuk), who has just
past puberty. Shortly after the film begins, Victor is
at a swimming pool, making a play for Judy (played by Judy
Marte), a good-looking Dominican, who shrugs him off, telling
him falsely that she already has "a man." Victor's
friend Harold (played by Kevin Rivera), meanwhile, tries
to befriend Judy's girlfriend Melanie (played by Melanie
Diaz), resulting in the same brush-off. The girls agree
that Victor and Harold are beneath the quality of men whom
they deserve. Judy is tired of being hassled by Dominican
boys, who respond to her coldness with rudeness, so she
initially classifies Victor as the same kind of jerk. As
the film unfolds, cute Victor's politeness works, melting
Judy's cold response, initially by getting her brother
Carlos (played by Wilfree Vasquez) to make a formal introduction.
However, the price of the introduction is for Victor to
introduce Carlos to his sister Melanie, an affair that
starts badly but grows. Similarly, Harold's cute repartee
with Melanie works wonders. The antics of the midteens
are quite normal for kids that age who live in the United
States, providing perhaps a few tips for teenage boys on
how to attract girls with humility and persistence. But
grandma grew up in the old country, and she does not know
how to make the transition from caring for preteen children
to giving space to teenagers, who out of innocence are
stumbling to find their way as young adults. She blames
anything unexpected on Victor, the oldest. For example,
one day she catches Nino masturbating, whereupon she takes
the family to a social service agency worker, asking the
agency to assume care of Victor, whom she no longer wants
to live at home. The social worker explains that if she
kicked Victor out and he complained to the authorities,
she would be arrested, and the family would be farmed out
to foster parents. Accordingly, she demurs. On one occasion,
grandma discovers a glass with lipstick. When Judy comes
over for dinner to meet Victor's family, she matches the
lipstick on the saved glass with the lipstick Judy plants
on the dinner glass, and then erupts with anger at Judy
for lying that she had never been to the home before. Her
tirade prompts Judy to leave; when Victor follows her,
apologizing for his mom's behavior and for his humble family,
she becomes passionate with him, as his eloquent sincerity
proves to her that he is indeed a gentleman. Although grandma
again threatens to throw Victor out, he realizes that his
role is to take care of his grandma, not the other way
around. He has reached maturity at a tender age. MH
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