Come on, Film Students! A film must be judged on its own artistic, technical and cinematic merits, not on whether it was filmed in the location of the original story, or on whether the actors are of the same ethnicity as those in the story on which the film is based. Is DR. ZHIVAGO any worse because it was filmed in Spain and not Russia, or that the starring role is portrayed by an Egyptian rather than a Russian? Is LAWRENCE OF ARABIA less of a film because it was filmed in Spain and North Africa and not in Saudi Arabia, or that O'Toole is an ethnic Irishman and not a Brit (Yes, my friends, there IS a difference, right down to the language!)? IN THE TIME OF THE BUTTERFLIES is based on a work of FICTION, a novel, not on an historically accurate treatise. Trujillo never lusted after the Mirabal sisters, nor did he play dice with Minerva over her future. At the now famous party, he did not grab Minerva's ass. Rather he and Minerva had a heated argument over Trujillo's repressive politics, and she and her family left the party in anger BEFORE the host, Trujillo, retired for the evening, an act that was considered not only impolite, but an illegal affront to Trujillo's regime. Minerva's father, Enrique was much more outspoken against Trujillo than the film portrays, and he was arrested for his defiance, not for his inability to deliver his daughter's virginity to 'El Jefe'. I cite all of these as facts gathered from a visit to El Museo de las Hermanas Mirabal in Salcedo, DR, and on the only outstanding non-fictional, accurate historical treatise on the subject, TRES HEROINAS Y UN TIRANO.
Let's face it. Salma Hayek produced a film on a subject about which she has been extremely outspoken - violence against women. Not only did she choose perhaps one of the most brutal examples in history, but she also glamorized it for Hollywood and for American audiences. However, whatever her faults in bringing this project to life, she is to be commended for making Minerva Mirabal a real person in the living rooms of English speaking Americans, who in general know very little about Latin America and its politics. For a more historical and accurate version, I suggest that someone among the bright, young cineasts in the Dominican Republic today make a film that does the Mirabal sisters more justice, and of course one that would use as background, the most beautiful island in the Caribbean. Let us not forget, the Dominican Republic is 'la Cuna de las Americas' (the Cradle of the Americas) and for this reason alone, the real story of the Mirabal sisters' fight for justice and democracy needs to be told again and again.
Dr. Michael James McColley-Parmer
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shofaz
18 years ago
I totally agree with you, Dr. McColley. This movie is not that bad... in fact is very good. Why? because (for example) I never knew about Mirabal sisters before this movie. That's good enough. But as all we know, you'll never please everybody with a book adaptation.
I loved this movie and I'm not the only one, there's a lot of people who thinks the same... Dominicans should be glad that somebody had the courage of tell this story to the world in a movie, because, you know, the book is practically unknown in a lot of countries... why in english? because that's a language that everybody can access, and is the "universal" one or whatever you want to say. I think that people just talk because they can, just criticizing for the fact of doing it. Come on people, try to see the good, not just things like "Why in Mexico?" "Why in english?" "Why Marc Anthony?" and all that stuff...
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