La fiesta del Chivo

The problem with this film is that you have a director ,producer from other countries and actors speaking castilian they don't get the feeling of the era of Trujillo's's dictatorship,and can't make it work, I Lived that ERA, the fear of Trujillo's SIM (Intelligence Service) was tremendous and one thing that distinguish that Era was that those that served the regime were very protective of any anti-Trujillo's's ideas and served as an extension of his government to protect their own lives and that of their families, fear of him and his goons (Johnny Abe), although at the time of this movie things were changing was enormous, you never get that feeling during this movie, to me this film is just one of thousands,that were lived in the country in his 30 years.

As hard as it is to top any book with a movie, this one may be Especially harder, Mario Vargas Llosa is an outstanding writer and I Believe Lucho Llosa did a splendid job with this film. Isabella Rossellini was incomparable as usual, as well as many new faces, such as Stephanie Leonidas, who played the part of young Urania Cabral with so much passion it steals your heart. There are some twists in the story that will blow your mind away; although I must insist on reading the book first, even without the book the story is captivating. Aside from the acting and the very interesting plot, I believe everyone (especially us Latin Americans) should pay special attention to the story and be very aware of history repeating itself.

Don't believe that because I am Peruvian as Luis LLosa or Mario Vargas Llosa I am going to clap their work without criticism. Other movies of the first and some books of the second are not likable to me. In this case I have to say this is for me, a great book adaptation (ok, maybe some characters and scenes where eliminated, but imagine how much should have last the movie if not). And also the cast was well elected. The movie is a political history thriller, that refers to a Latin American real era, and has to photograph it as perfect as can. The other part, Urania's history is a psychological drama history, and it can be shocking, but the idea is that it has to be; it is the history of a trauma post raping, and it's consequences in family and personal life. I think the movie is well guided and the two parallel histories are well related. But I have to say that sometimes it was a little difficult to follow context, most in the scenes of the car.

"La Fiesta del Chivo" is a startling look at the long-running dictatorship of Leonidas Trujillo (1930-1961)in Republica Dominicana, seen through the eyes of one of his youngest victims. The delightful Isabella Rosselini plays Uranita, the long lost child that wanders back home thirty years after fleeing. In a series of flashbacks we see the country where she spent her early days, the dangers and horrors of a tyranny she couldn't possibly understand and the haunting reasons why she fled. Tomas Milian convincingly plays the lewd dictator with all his whims, coarseness and vanity. Paul Freeman is at his best playing Uranita's widowed father, Agustín Cabral, lifelong aide to the strongman and a staunch prop of the regime. A street scene depicts a lighted "ad" placed outdoors which reads "Dios y Trujillo", ominously summing up all the terror of a Third World tyranny.

I am a Dominican, and it's always good to see movies that are about facts from my country. I was waiting for this movie, everybody knows the book it's already a classic, Trujillo's era it's one of the bloodiest of all the dictators-ships that Latin America has suffer. Well, this movie is based on the book of the same name, but it's very difficult to top the book's magic in a two hours film. It's not a bad movie, but it's not what should have been. Nice cinematography in some scenes but the director fails in portray to us the strongest side of the characters. I give the movie a 6 out of 10, cause anyways, it's a good approach to the book, and the people that doesn't know about this story, i recommend this movie as the best out there about Trujillo and his "nasty" regime.