Hotel Coppelia

Great film by the young Dominican Director Jose Maria Cabral, with the same raw brutality he depicted in Carpinteros. Through the lens of the 1965 American invasion of the the Dominican Republic, Cabral hits on some classic themes including the brutality and arrogance of a dominant force over a weak nation, the legacy of sexual exploitation within families and society, the misplaced emotional bonds that keep people together. The film could have used more editing as it loses its focus at times and the plot becomes a bit murky. This seems due to Cabral's inability to let go of some of the side stories and characters, which, while interesting, distract from the story's arc.

Some of the characters are a bit cliché, including the general, who was reminiscent of Lieutenant Colonel Kilgore in "Apocalypse Now" (or is the cliché reality?). Nevertheless, as viewers we become invested in the film's characters and care what happens to them.

As a Dominican, I found the presentation of that historical moment, and how it affected these people who were already on the fringes of society, intriguing. Kudos to Cabral for depicting his unique Dominican point of view in film. Give us more!

Standing ovation for the actress that performed Judith. The movie in general was good is worth the watch.

Tina Bazuca, Google her, she was real, along with other brave women from the Dominican Republic.

It is a movie that in its entirety we can consider it as good, however, the performances in many of the scenes lacked to convey the drama and intensity of the story. A very well structured script and direction, with the opportunity to stick even more to the real historical context.

Firstly it was not just the US, but Canada, Mexico, Brazil that participated in intervening in the 1965 Dominican civil war. For example Canadian troops were there from May 4, 1965 to October 22 1966, fighting the Cuban supplied and aligned communists. In fact the head of the Inter-American Peace Force (IAPF) sent to Dominican Republic was a Brazilian General. This intervention was about about separating two hyper violent warring sides, bot of which were killing civilians, by all historians accounts, the leftist killing the most.

US troops were barely involved in any of the fighting. There were 23 total US casualties, mostly from sniper fire while those troops were protecting civil institutions.

The violence was suppressed very quickly and US service personnel were a minority of the foreign troops there.

Wrong Dominican story board. Poor quality of actors and storyline does not emulate to past history in the Dominican Republic. Woman on those times did not wear tattoos.