MovieChat Forums > Menace II Society (1993) Discussion > Ilena's Pregnancy

Ilena's Pregnancy

posted 14 years ago by rlstokey
46 replies | jump to latest

According to the Allen Hughes' commentary on the Criterion Laserdisc , Ilena was not pregnant. The character was written as an opportunistic female who's purpose was to get abortion money out of Caine but actually make a profit. Allen said that he had her go "overboard" with the crying but the purpose of the scene was to show that she was a liar overall. This floored me because the performance was very believable especially the line "your man enough to take a life but not man enough to take care of one". Unlike the current special edition releases, the commentaries on the laserdisc are not edited together so I will have to get the opposite director's take on the scene next time. How many of you viewer's believed Ilena (like I did) or figured she was running game?

[–] deezmofoz 11 years ago

i believed she was pregnant but i never believed it was caine's. shareef said she slept around for one, & for two caine said he always used condoms.

THEY SHOOTIN'! ah, i made you look.

[–] fiatlux-1 11 years ago

Caine may have used a condom, but I bet he & Illena messed around before he put it on.
That happens with a lot of 'accidental pregnancies'.

"I'd say this cloud is Cumulo Nimbus."
"Didn't he discover America?"
"Penfold, shush."

[–] Kelea7 10 years ago

i believed she was pregnant but i never believed it was caine's. shareef said she slept around for one, & for two caine said he always used condoms

Guys say that a lot though. And just because she slept around doesn't mean she didn't genuinely think it was Caine's. As in he's the last guy she was with. It's how I saw it.

That being said I don't think it was made explicitly clear that she was lying. She was very convincing and her reaction didn't scream, "she's a liar!" I thought it made Caine look insensitive. Personally, I felt that down the line he could have had a change of heart about the child, but to many people it looks like he's bailing on his potential responsibility. I think they should have done something more definitive to show she was lying (like showing a false pregnancy test), or even better just come up with a different motive. It was weak the way it played out, but the film still works because of the powerful imagery of the ending.

Rest in Peace Maya Angelou and Ruby Dee. Two gifted, beautiful angels who will be dearly missed.

[–] fiatlux-1 11 years ago

Illena wasn't even smart enough not to use a phone during a thunderstorm LOL.
Its not surprising she got pregnant. While Caine is of course equally responsible, Illena made her own mistake too. She should have used her own birth control as backup.

"I'd say this cloud is Cumulo Nimbus."
"Didn't he discover America?"
"Penfold, shush."

[–] mizzdimplzz 10 years ago

Just finished watching it and it's the first time I ever considered she might have been lying....

In the scene towards the end where her "cousin" is leaving and getting ready to do the drive by on Cain the way she tries to stop him/comfort him was pretty off for "cousins"..she tried to embrace him hold him when he wouldn't give in to her pleas

The other scenes were pretty bad at eluding to her shadiness...I never considered this before today..logged on here to see my suspicions were valid

[–] Metsiavelli 10 years ago

I knew she was lying for one simple reason. "When he said I had the jimmy hat on extra tight". She didn't say "You know you didn't have a condom on." Or "You know it broke.".

[–] megameme (370) 8 years ago

Exactly, only an idiot would not notice the condom broke.

[–] IMDBrefugee (435) 2 years ago

If this is the case they did a poor job showing it. Cane's response to the whole thing was crappy but if they want to make ilenapl to be dishonest about it, they should go all in, especially since she in 3 scenes total.