She only gets a handful of lines, and you're not supposed to focus on any of them, but--the way that Hyman Roth brought his wife to Cuba with him, and she's his translator, is kind of awesome.
And the way that all the other men are gallivanting at the porno show and he's at home with his wife feeling (physically) like absolute garbage... and then he has a stroke, survives an attempted murder (and his second is actually murdered)... and I can only assume it's his wife who manages to drag his butt out of the hospital and onto the ship and save both their lives. (Because with Johnny Ola dead, who else was going to do it?)
And it's a good play! Clearly it was a good play. Especially with you having just managed to flush a ridiculous amount of your value and ability to pay anyone down the toilet with not seeing the revolution coming, who else could you actually expect to get you out of there?
And man but what a contrast to Michael, who's alienating anyone who cares about him in any capacity at a massive clip, but also to every single Italian in this movie, who carefully keeps their women on the outside of the business and carefully corralled.
And I suspect the insubstantial-Jewish-wife routine--here's your sandwich, turn down that TV before you blast your eardrums out, are you sure you don't need me for a few hours--is absolutely intentional to have her close but still seem domestic and uninvolved and get the protections thereby. (And it's possible she actually is uninvolved, but I doubt it, because why else would you fly her to Cuba and why is she the one speaking Spanish for you.)
So... yeah. Here's to Mrs. Roth! What a lady.
