#thrombey

I LOVE, capital L O V E, how Marta's mom and Marta's sister (her name is Alice) were characterized. It was simple, efficient, and absolutely perfect (imo).

Here's what I mean: the interactions Marta had with her family were very short, but very powerful. Obviously, the screen time can't give them too much attention- that would clutter the movie and potentially overwhelm viewers, since they already have a lot of other characters to keep track of. However, the little screen time they get shows that they truly love Marta, and shows their genuine connection as a family.

For example, in what I believe to be their first scene together, they're all in the kitchen and Alice is watching a murder mystery thingy. Mama Cabrera requests that she turn it off because they were discussing murder and Marta's "dear friend" had just died. This reveals two things: one, that Marta's mom knows about how close Marta and Harlan were, and two, that she's sensitive enough to Marta's needs that she's trying to protect her daughter's feelings.

Now, at first Alice protests, saying that her show's almost over, and she can't watch it in her room because the wifi won't reach. However, eventually she turns it off, despite Marta saying that it's okay for Alice to keep watching. Alice then walks over to her sister and hugs her, apologizing for having the show on, which shows she also truly cares for her sister's feelings. Additionally, she eases any of Marta's potential worries of 'making' Alice miss her show (because that's how good of a person Marta is) by saying "don't worry, I already guessed who it [the murderer] was anyway". This demonstrates not only that she is aware of Marta's ways of thinking, but she reassures Marta to compensate. Emotional intelligence!

There's a scene later in the movie where Marta comes home from a shift and her mom is watching a telenovela. Throughout this scene, there's no dialogue between the two of them, but it's a comfortable silence, the kind you can develop in a close relationship. Marta goes to sit on the couch next to her mom, and if I recall properly, her mom either holds her hand or rubs her back. Either way, it's a comforting gesture to Marta after a long, difficult day, and is a more quiet way of showing their bond.

I believe the final scene we see of Marta with her family is when there’s a bunch of reporters outside her house, since it’s been discovered that Harlan has left her all his inheritance. There’s a bit less to say with this one, but I’ll cover it for the sake of completion. Her sister wakes her up suddenly and tells her about what’s going on outside, and then both Alice and her mom are asking about if what all the reporters are saying is true. Understandably they’re both very confused, and express worry for Marta’s safety if she is to leave the house.

However, let’s not forget that Marta’s family is still, in a way, driving all of her decisions and therefore, partially driving the movie’s plot forwards. Despite literally throwing up at the telling of a lie, Marta conceals the truth in various ways from a genius fucking detective not so as to avoid incarceration, but avoid her mother’s deportation. As mentioned several times, Marta’s mom (and possibly her sister? Idk I wasn’t clear on that part) is an undocumented immigrant, and Marta is shown to care about the consequences of Harlan’s murder for her family much, much more than the consequences for herself. 

God, I love Marta, she’s such a selfless queen. Fun fact, what finally pushed me over the edge to watch Knives Out in the first place was learning that Marta was hispanic rep :DDD