A Thread abt the film Palm Trees In The Snow.
It's problematic & utilizes the Born Sexy Yesterday trope whilst literally romanticizing colonialism & slavery. THREAD!

Palm Trees In The Snow is a Spanish film released in 2015. The film is currently on Netflix. In this thread I want to focus on specifically the characters: Bisila & Killian, I will also mention the likes of Jacobo & Mosi. I may mention other characters but I'll let y'all know.

Palm Trees In the Snow( PTITS) is a romance film that follows the love story of a young newly arrived Spanish colonialist(to Equatorial Guinea), Kilian & Bisila, a young African woman who an indigene to Equatorial Guinea.

The first time we meet Bisila & Kilian is through an intense passionate sex scene, in which Bisila is crying, this sex scene is supposed to reveal what will eventually happen once the story is told in chronological order.

The story officially begins w/ Kilian( & his older bro Jacobo) arriving to Bioko Island ( an Island dats part of Equatorial Guinea) from Spain, he's there to take up the job as a plantation overseer @ one of the local cocoa plantations that his father works at.

When Kilian 1st arrives he's initially uncomfortable w/ the idea of being am authority figure, bc remember his job is to be an overseer, which means beating the natives/workers if they stepped out of line.
This character trait is meant to sanitize & humanize colonialism.

While on 1 of his duties as an overseer, Kilian decides to wander into the forest, as if he's in a fevered trance. He hears faint noises that sounds like a woman singing, when he gets closer he notices that the singing is coming from a young Bubi woman.

This young Bubi woman is Bisila. She's sitting in the forest singing & crying but once she she's Kilian she disappeared into the forest b4 Kilian is even able to even introduce himself.
This theme is often done in colonial Born Sexy Yesterday trope, its a romanization of the-

first contact btwn Europeans & Indigenous ppl that they were planning to colonize. This trope also births the racial myths surrounding the mixing of races throughout the America's & parts of European settled Africa.

This myth also further pushes the idea of how exotic, other worldly nature & "wild/animalistic" nature of non-whites, the European wandering from European settlement into the woods, seemingly enchanted by a young, sexually appealing non-white woman.

Back to the story:
Kilian is enchanted but that enchantment is briefly disturbed when he hears mvmnt in the bushes which turns out to be a Spanish overseer having rough sex w/ an African femme plantation worker, this woman later begs for $$$ which the overseer refuses to give.

Note dat this unnamed African woman worker is dark skinned & her existence was treated w/ disgust by the overseer & Kilian. The woman is heard begging - we dnt knw what happens to her BUT her existence is a pointer to how other dark skinned women will be treated in this film.

As time progressed Kilian begins to progress, Kilian begins to get a hang of being an overseer @ one point he even mercilessly whips a native for allegedly putting a poisonous snake in his room, he even enjoys sleeping w/ multiple local women, his favorite being Sade-

Sade is a curvy, vivacious, sensual & sexual African woman, who also is a night life singer & possibly a sex worker. It doesn't matter to Kilian bc Kilian doesn't see much in her except for a fun time, he uses her as a means to fulfill his wild fantasies @ night after a long day-

of being an overseer.
Kilians father( also an overseer) becomes annoyed by Kilians behavior so he( & his magical negro African friend, Ose) decides to take Kilian into the forest. In the woods, Ose & Kilians father guide Kilian into a remote village in which a traditional Bubi-

wedding is taking place.
This is done to romanticize the closeness & friendliness btwn the colonized & colonizer The wedding comes to the final portion in which it's customary for those in attendance to give well wishes to the newly weds, as Kilian gets closer to the couple he-

recognizes that the newly wed bride is the young woman he met in the forest: Bisila. He gives her lustful eyes-in front of husband dat she just married & doesnt give any well wishes. Keep in mind Bisila & Kilian have nvr spoken to each other but Kilian is already in love w/ her.

This is the point where the movie off shoots to Kilian chasing Bisila until he's able to have her.
We later find out that Bisia is a nurse/medical aide when she attempts to heal Kilians dying father, 1st through Western medicine & secondly through traditional Bubi ways-

once again this enchants Kilian, who is enamored by an unknowing Bisila.
Kilians father later dies & after his decides to make a move & express how he feels abt Bisila towards Bisila. When initially tries to make an advancement, Bisila refuses seemingly afraid

She scurries away into the darkness, then we see another colonial trope "native woman hiding from white man", we later see Bisila peering/hiding behind a house looking @ Kilian- it induces a sort of chase- in which Kilian finally see's her & kisses, this later leads to sex.

This kicks off their romance in which every night Kilian & Bisila have sex. Keep in mind Bisila is a married woman, she even cries during one of the sexual escapades in which she states that in her culture that an adulteresses are greatly punished for having affairs if found out

Kilian is not worried and sheepishly says that he would protect her from that ever happening to her. * Bisila is also a mother & recently birthed a child w/ her husband Mosi. Who throughout the film is mute. His only characteristic is being Tall, muscular & dark.

Kilian is eventually told to leave for Spain bc one of his relatives are sick.
While in Spain something terrible happens to Bisila. Bisila is brutally raped & beaten by Jacabo( Kilian brother) & other Spanish colonialist. Its so brutal, that they dislocated her arm.

Bisila tells only a close friend what happened to her and tells them not to tell anyone else, of course this friend ends up telling Bisila's husband.
Upon Kilian's return, Bisila makes an effort to stay away from him-she's afraid.

When Kilian asks what is wrong, she refuses to answer & runs away in fear. Her face still badly beaten, she hides .
Kilian later learns what happens and learns that Bisila's husband is planning on killing Jacabo.
When Kilian finally finds Jacabo he beats him & states-

/refers to Bisila as "his woman" and "mine" & Jacabo states that he didnt know. Also revealed, Jacabo has syphilis and transmitted it to Bisila.
This whole brouhaha is capped off by Bisila's husband( Mosi) attempted to kill Jacabo BUT ending being killed by being shot dead.

*** Jacabo being the shooter of course.
Jacabo is sent back to Spain AND Bisila goes back into hiding.
The nxt time Kilian Bisila, she's w/ two children: One that is fully African and other that is clearly half white & is baby.

The film ends w/ Kilian living relative happiness momentarily, until Kilian & the rest of the Spanish colonialist/settlers are kicked out of Equatorial Guinea as the country has gained independence. Killian leaves Bisila w/ 2 children that are essentially fatherless.

In the end, an elderly Bisila ends up committing suicide by walking into the sea.

The problem w/ this movie is that tho aesthetically beautiful, its a movie that was mostly told by colonialist side.
Bisila went through great pain in order to advance a story line and her almost naiveness and exoticness is fetishsized by Kilian who nvr accounts-

how she feels.
Its posed as a love story when in actuality its not. Bisila was a Born Sexy Yesterday trope, tho she wasnt a virgin when she 1st had sex w/ Kilian, she was nearly sexually inexperienced w/ only having sexy w/ one man whom she claimed she didnt really love.

Its problematic and colonial as fuck.
It makes Bisila, an almost accessory to Kilian. She nvr truly experiences happiness but somehow only experiences happiness w/ Kilian who in a lot of ways are the roots of her unhappiness AND at the end Kilian nvr tried to reunite w/ Bisila.

And as for Sade, the vivacious, curvy nighlife singer, its heavily implied in the film that Kilian fathered a child w/ her tho its nvr known bc Kilian "disposed" of her once he started sleeping w/ Bisila.

Also I must add that Bisila couldnt have anymore children after being attacked by Jacabo.
The story nvr truly explains who is the father of Bisila's half white child, whether it be Jacabo or Kilian.

Bisila essentially dies w/out Kilian and Kilian basically sort of doesnt really got shit to say abt it.
And makes me want to know, whether Bisila was ever truly in a relationship w/ Kilian or was she doing it while under duress- we dnt know.