sturlaferrer

I know, it's a movie. But when it comes to portray real life (in any matter) it should be as faithful as possible. I'm sorry, but "El Misterio Galíndez" isn't as accurate as it seems. Nor is the Dominican Republic depicted as it really is. In fact, it shocked me to see that the filming location for Santo Domingo was actually Cuba. And incredibly enough, movies with Cuban themes (Havana, The lost City, Bitter Sugar, The Godfather part II) were actually filmed in Santo Domingo! So what happened here? Why did they shoot the movie in Cuba instead of the D.R.? The Spanish dialogs with the Cuban accent are horrible! Those are not Dominicans! On the historic level, Galíndez would have never been hanged. He might as well been shot, decapitated or died from the inhumane torture he'd been receiving. Then, thrown his body in the Caribbean sea. But Trujillo would have never ordered death by strangulation. His sick mind wouldn't have allowed it.

Acting isn't delivered as expected. Harvey Keitel looks like he's just expecting a paycheck. I prefer the leading actress in "Deep Blue Sea". The rest of the cast would have been excellent in some Cuban movie, and the same goes for the selected shooting location.

I suggest "La fiesta del chivo" (The feast of the goat), from bestselling author Mario Vargas Llosa, directed by his cousin Luis Llosa. It's a bit more realistic with Dominican history. The Trujillo character is very well portrayed, and the Galindez incident is treated very briefly in this movie.

Dominican Republic isn't famous for it's movies. Better yet people worldwide recognize the sound of merengue or the name of a famous baseball player and associate it with this country. But I think this film, "La cárcel de la Victoria: El cuarto hombre", is going to make some difference. Setting the plot in a major penitentiary in the Dominican Republic named "La Victoria" (spanish for victory), the real value of this movie is it's documentation. There aren't real prisons in this caribbean island, just big concentration camps that isolate delinquents, rapists and "white collar" crooks that feed on corruption. It is incredible how they portray prisoners sleeping on the floor, eating what they can find, trying to survive in the depths of purgatory. And right in the middle we find the story of a man who imprisoned himself in search of the brutal killer of his little boy. Looking for vengeance he discovers that it won't be so simple as planned and with the help of his wife from the outside the plot thickens. A story that will make your skin crawl due to the inhumanity shown and the reality that is lived day after day in the Victoria prison in Dominican Republic. Great script and direction from television producer Jose Pintor and exceptional photography from Claudio Chea. Good acting comes from dominican Richard Douglas. The rest of the cast is rather cold but still delivers its purpose.