In the Time of the Butterflies

Last week in our local paper there was a photo and a story of the surviving Mirabal sister. I read the story, thought it was awful about the sisters murder, but kind of blew off the article as: "old news", "get over it already". Today I turned on the TV and this movie was on. I wasn't going to watch the whole thing, but got to putzing around and got kind of into just watching it while I did other stuff. I thought it was taking place in Mexico until I heard the part about the Haitians and figured out it was Santo Domingo. It was 3/4 of the way through the movie before I figured out it was the sisters I had read about in the paper. What a profound moment for me. These women were real heroes and their story should be told. I felt like such a jerk. It was a real lesson for me: you should never "blow anyone off" until you have heard their story. If you take the time, you may come to like and, maybe, even admire them. And you may learn something about them and yourself. No wonder their sister never stops telling their story.

"Butterflies", the code name for three sisters and underground resistance conspirators in the Dominican Republic during the dictatorial Trujillo regime, bounds through time like a mediocre biopic taking pause at moments obviously designed to evoke emotion rather than infusing a sense of reality. Although an okay shoot technically, the film tries to do too much, doesn't give any real sense of Dominican history, and comes off like a soapy evil dictator vs three babes who even manage to find lip rouge in prison. Melodrama not for realists which attempts to connect the three sibs with Trujillo's assassination by association as opposed to fact. A poor testament to three martyrs.

Three sisters fight the evil Trujillo in this well-mounted mini-epic. Great acting somewhat marred by predictable dialogue, but the story works anyway. The women are gorgeous and sincere. James Olmos plays the three-dimensional lusty Trujillo. Good location photography in Mexico. Could have used more explanation of the politics.

With so much horror loose in this century, we forget some of the recent horrors of the last. Few people who vacation in the Dominican Republic today are aware of the brutal regime which flourished there --- like a poisonous tropical flower --- until recent times. This is a splendid depiction of it and of the struggle to overthrow it. Surprisingly there is no reference to the United States' shameful support of Trujillo or to the Castro revolution in nearby Cuba. I also wonder why it was filmed in Mexico rather than the Dominican Republic itself. But no matter. It is a gripping and thoughtful piece of cinema.

This is a very good and in my opinion underrated movie.

Edward James Olmos at his best as he portrays the evil Trujillo a man who like Hitler became more evil as he got more power. He was a sexual sadist with a preference for young Mulatto girls which is how we get to the story in this movie.

The movie follows mainly Salma Hayek's character and her naivety until she realizes what Trujillo is really like.

The Mirabal sisters' assassination at the very end is sad but at least we are not shown the gory details.

One of Salma Hayeks best movies and I wish she did more like this instead of movies that exploited her looks and body. She is a very intelligent women and a good actress as this and the film Frida shows her to be.