The struggles of being Chinese and immigrating to Argentina

Jazmin Cole 

Contributing Writer

“El Futuro Perfecto”/ “The Future Perfect,” directed by German director Nele Wohlatz, is a film that portrays the challenges immigrants go through when they first move to a new country, like learning the main language of the land and their self- identity.

There have been many immigrants from Asian countries, such as China, Japan, and India, that have rapidly begun to move to Spanish speaking countries like Argentina. A vast majority populate big cities, such as Buenos Aires, where a large portion of the Asian demographic reside.

“El Futuro Perfecto” follows a young lady named Xiaobin, who is 18 years old, who emigrates from China to Buenos Aires, Argentina to live with her parents, whom she has no recollection of meeting after being separated when she was a baby.

After her arrival, Xiaobin, who for now can only speak Mandarin, quickly learns how difficult her life will be in Buenos Aires if she does not pick up Spanish.

She begins working at a deli under Chinese management, but unfortunately gets fired for not being able to understand the customers and getting orders wrong.

As the film progresses, Xiaobin starts to attend a Spanish class faithfully and quickly learns Spanish and is able to use it in everyday life. Through this class she adopts the name Beatriz.

After retaining a substantial amount of Spanish, Xiaobin finds another job in a supermarket where she works, saves her wages and meets a young Indian man, Vijay, whom seems fairly unusual in his introduction, but nevertheless, begins a romantic pursuit of Beatriz/ Xiaobin.

Xiaobin and Vijay’s relationship seems to progress a little too fast as he is very insistent in his pursuit of her. However, Xiaobin begins to see him although, they both respectively know very little about each other.

Xiaobin hides her relationship from her parents knowing that they will be more than displeased to find out she is not seeing a Chinese man. Her parents do know that she takes classes to learn Spanish, but they believe she is wasting her time as they do not see a point in assimilating to the country they have been in for quite some time.

The movie’s plot begins to become quite clear after a slightly confusing sequence of scenes. A few soft comedic scenes are weaved into the plot of different futures Xiaobin thinks of while in her Spanish class. Xiaobin then sits and talks to her class about all the different outcomes that could become of her life.

Although this film may seem unusual at first, the end will leave you with a greater understanding some of the main themes of immigration and identity.

Many people never have to think about how to fit into a new environment completely different than their own and what would be needed of them when they get there, thus resulting in misunderstanding people who have immigrated.

“El Futuro Perfecto” might be able to help those who do not know or understand immigration and will definitely help those looking to learn about it.

“El Futuro Perfecto” and five other Latino films featured in several other Spanish-speaking countries are being shown by the Dept. of Modern Languages, Philosophy, & Religion’s Dr. Annie Mendoza for The Sixth Annual Latino Heritage Month Film Series.

For all who would like to view “El Futuro Perfecto,” another showing will be held on Sat. Oct. 13 in Beers Lecture Hall at 3 p.m.

Email Jazmin at:

jcole17@live.esu.edu