Hotel Coppelia

Unexpected treat from Dominican Republic... a historic drama of 1965, a year of civil war and US occupation during which many innocent lives were lost. Of course, nothing is changed and the US government still oppress all the democratically elected governments in the Latin America while trying to bully them into submission. But Dominicans fought and in that fighting there were unexpected heroes from the Hotel Coppelia, which was actually a brothel... real life drama, excellent acting, beautiful nude scenes, sadness and joy included equally in the inspiring screenplay, and directing which was uncompromising... impossible for me not to love it!

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!

Good movie. Entertaining for short times. Sometimes lose the rhythm but it is easy to recover it. Good performances from Lumy Lizardo and Jazz Vila. It's a drama that touches on historical events in the Dominican Republic in 1965.

This film shows us the other perspective of the revolution fight. 7/10.

The movie was very promising at the beginning and it was very interesting until it touches the subject of the American invasion. From one moment to another the movie suffers a stagnation and we don't know what it is about and it loses everything that had been achieved at the beginning. Good performance by Lumy Lizardo and the guerrilla woman. Nashla's performance was not for her, she still lacks a lot as an actress for roles like the one in the movie.

I give this movie a 5.5 out of 10.

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.