Caribe

Caribe feels like somebody said, "Let's make a movie that shows off the splendid beauty and culture of Costa Rica! It will be a magnificent advertisement for our beautiful country." And then someone else (probably a writer) said "But it should have a serious message, too!." And then some produ$er chimed in, "No one wants to watch a boring, preachy documentary--no matter how beautiful. It needs to have plenty of sex and nudity! And while we're at it, let's throw in a bit of violence. *THAT* will make it a good movie!" There was no justification for most of the characters' major decisions. It oscillated between a character sketch of a man at the edge of breakdown and a "movie-of-the-week" with action bits thrown in.

This movie was produced by the biggest producer in Costa Rica. Although their authors brag about it as a the biggest movie in Costa Rica ever made and their actors even dare to say that they didn't get an Oscar Nomination due to it's political relevance with oil (-he he, right) ...Well, this is all a lie. This movie was supposedly based on a book written by Carlos Salazar Herrera about a love triangle (super cliché soap opera-like subject) and it secondary story is about an oil problem on the Atlantic Coast of Costa Rica with an American oil company who wanted to explore oil deposits on the region, but at the end it never was approved by the government. Now, it may have some nice footage about the beaches, but that's it; nothing bigger than that... it is all in the camera. Most of the actors are lousy, except for two or three. The rest lack of sense of what acting means: they overact most of the time. The story is completely common and cliché, worthy of a cheap Mexican soap opera as I said.. because the crew advertised it as a protest movie about oil, but 80% of the movie is based on a stupid love triangle. The script is nothing impressing, it is very simple and the dialogs are not very thought. It has also got some editing problem on a couple of scene changes... but besides that is pretty decent. The director did an alright job, I mean, he is not like an Oliver Stone,but he did his job with the resources he had handy. I would like to question him why instead of using Costarican actor he spent most of the money on foreign ones.. I mean after all they bragged about being an 100% Costarican Production... that's what you at least expect. Final the end is is not well done, there are flaws and details that don't match or are useless. Besides being the most elaborated movie in all Costarican history, I think it's mediocre. You can make way more interesting and better pictures with less cash. Never heard of "Pi"? Anyway, if you are curious about Costa Rican or Central American movies, this one will do, but you are definitively not missing anything.

...or Soap on the Beach.

What we have here is a love triangle between Vincente, his wife Abigail and her long-lost sister Irene. And then we have the tale of the American oil company preparing to despoil Costa Rica's fishing grounds, beaches and tourist economy in exchange for a few low-paying jobs.

From the moment Maya Zapata arises in the morning, turning her snow-white panties to the camera, we know this isn't going to end well (no pun initially intended). She and Vincente fall in lust, with Vincente being unable to decide between the women in his life. This plot moves predictably, with one very nice beach/lightning storm scene and a lovely lecture of Vincente by his cook Marva about "You've got to decide!...chicken or fish?!). No spoilers, but I wasn't satisfied with this story's resolution.

The bulk of the oil story must be on the cutting room floor, as it's given short shrift as far more than a minor plot element and far less than a plot. This story is based on actual Costa Rican history and worth looking at.

Neither story is done justice here. It's too bad Senor Ramirez didn't make two movies; I would have loved a documentary about the oil.

Story wasn't super innovative but overall provided an easygoing plot. There were a few character reactions that seemed inconsistent but not overtly so. From a Costa Rican perspective it succeeded in showing a lot of aspects of culture and societal issues of the Caribbean coast BUT having the lead characters be foreigners drew away from it. The end was a bit loose but didn't bring down the merit of the rest of the story.

"Caribe" is not a masterpiece in any of its storytelling aspects. However, it delivers a perfectly enjoyable story, along with a magnificent cinematography. The narrative structure is set around two narrative axes, one of them embedding the other, each one having elements that relate and co-exist in excellent harmony. The story never loses the right pacing, and it shows a very good blending of the human figure with its natural environment (which is a character in itself). The acting is great, and for that we owe credit to the emerging director, Esteban Ramírez. Furthermore, the characters are very well written and masterfully complex; so, once you become familiarized with them, you can perceive their feelings without them even saying anything. I can't say I liked this picture because of all the hype it generated(in Costa Rica), but rather because of the way it really achieves in showing an interesting portrait of what happens when you interfere with the equilibrium of people's lives. Hopefully, Caribe will establish a reference for future projects in Costa Rica, as it is a very good example of nice movie making.