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Fridge Brilliance
- Near the end of “Breathe”, Nina turns in three directions to find Barrio residents standing in a line. They’re right behind her, signifying their trust in her and symbolically having her back, being there for her wherever she turns. They are also boxing her in, stifling her with their affection and hope. Nina is stressed partially because of the expectations based on her status as the genius who made it out, and everyone assuming that she must be doing well.
- The white characters with speaking lines (the laundry man and the realtor) are both perfectly amiable, but they represent the external, systemic threat of gentrification, rental price hikes, and economic pressure upon the Barrio residents. Pike charges a price Claudia can't afford, and the realtor flatly rejects Vanessa because she doesn't have a cosign who can prove an income 40 times the rent. At the end, Usnavi looks at the old dispatch next to the laundry service and wonders whether his "raggedy little business" will be missed when the city is all "rich folks and hipsters", represented by Pike's expensive, organic laundry.
- Usnavi can still fix up his parents' bar and manage the bodega, assuming he plays his cards right. It's shown he has put a deposit on the place and the check cleared, and we find out he still owns it by the end of the movie. Technically, having that investment would be good for his credit and his finances, and he could have a manager in the Dominican Republic handle the daily nuts and bolts. Why? Because Usnavi realized that he doesn't want the bar itself but what it represents: the love that his family had and the community that shared dreams.
- Sonny’s father seems like a random Canon Foreigner without much purpose, but actually is critical for Sonny’s story. The stage musical strongly suggested that Sonny was another orphan like Usnavi that Abuela Claudia had taken in and raised. As an undocumented orphan, he would be an unaccompanied minor: legally considered a refugee with the right to stay in the country, and a difficult, but clear, path to a green card and citizenship. Because his father is still alive, he is a DREAMer with fewer rights.
