Analysis of Fresa y Chocolate Film - Movie Review Example

Fresa y chocolate Table of contents Introduction. 2. Two protagonists as two different sides of Cuban society. 3. The character of the film and its impact on society in post revolution Cuba. 4. Conclusion. 1. The film Fresa y chocolate (Strawberry and Chocolate) became one of the most interesting and expressive films about post revolution Cuba, political, social and cultural events took place in Cuban society and their reflection on people lived in that period. The main aim of the film is to show features, significance and importance of human relationships in the period of political dictatorship; the film also shows that in spite of any political regime people display affectations and feelings to each other, and in such time these relations between people are more open and frank that is reflected in the film Fresa y chocolate. These issues are increasingly important in this age of human relationship varieties and politics influence on these relationships. The purpose of this paper is to show Cuban society and its contradictions according to the film, as well as the politics and its reflection in people's characters and actions. The paper will also pay particular attention to the director's aim of the film and the importance of the film from the point of view of the historical period concerned. 2. The film presents colourful description of Cuban society under Fidel Castro's rule, and the plot of the film Fresa y chocolate is tightly connected with life conditions and cultural contradictions of Cuban society. The film tells the story of two young men each of whom had different cultural outlook, although they both supported political regime. Diego was a gay artist, but homosexual life was forbidden in Cuba. Otherwise, David studied sociology in Havana and was a true communist. The film shows social life in Cuba and its ethical and cultural features which influenced the flow of the film and main characters' actions. The both protagonists of the film present two different sides of social ethics: the way of life of communist ideology supporters, and that of people who don't put down in ethical limits of socialist state. As was mentioned above, Daniel studied sociology, and he was a true communist supporter and a member of communist youth brigades. Diego followed another style of life: he was an artist who saw his mission in Cuban culture promotion. So, any link between these two young men seems to be rather strange, but in spite of this fact they became real friends: "Diego is gay, religious and a nationalist, while David is straight, an atheist and a communist. Their relationship is flawed, in addition, by jealousies, both mutual and contextual (Santi, 2001)". The name of the film, Fresa y chocolate, is rather symbolic in this context: David and Diego met in a caf, David took chocolate while Diego did strawberry ice cream that was surprising to David, but Diego underlined that some people prefer chocolate while others prefer strawberry. This scene symbolically shows the protagonists' membership to different and contradictory sides of political, cultural and ethical sides of Cuban society. The film doesn't deny socialist ideology in Cuba, but there is a clear notion of variety of ethical and sexual life in post revolution Cuban society. It needs to take into account that Castro's regime didn't support such social and ethical phenomenon as homosexuality, and in 1965 he told that "we would never come to believe that a homosexual could embody the conditions and requirements of conduct that would enable us to consider him a true Revolutionary, a true Communist militant. A deviation of that nature clashes with the concept we have of what a militant Communist must be (West, 1995)". Diego feels real affectation to David, but his feeling cannot be accepted by his friend in that time in Cuba that is reflected in the film: it was just unrealizable desire which contradicted the system of the state. David who was heterosexual is shown as an opposite protagonist: he had relationship with women and wanted to be a writer. Dualism and contradiction of cultural and ethical life of Cuban society is clearly shown in Fresa y chocolate, but the socialist point of view prevails in the plot of the film: we can often see David alone, so he is the main character of the film as an expression of right style of life: "If David's point of view is the one that prevails in the film, then we can certainly go on to confirm which is the ideology (in the basic sense of the object of focalization) that controls the narrative (Santi, 2001)". The contradiction of both protagonists is also shown in scenes where David is displayed as more moral correct than Diego and Nancy. It symbolizes aversion of such "anti-social elements" which had no place in post revolution Cuban society, potential exiles (who will have a possibility to exile during the Mariel exodus). So, everybody is surprised by the relationship of David and Diego. In the final scenes David and Diego embrace - it symbolizes their acceptance of style of life of both characters and their unity, but this unity was also the sign of socialist ideology prevailing: they both realized the importance of socialist order: "The embrace allows each one to become part of the other and in this acceptance of one another, they also accept that nothing is more important than the revolution and society's values (Department of Foreign Languages & Humanities)". So, the film has some attributes of socialist realism: the final shows that the characters of the film had got a real confidence in socialist regime correctness and real love. 3. The film became one of the most prominent events in Cuban cultural life. It has won awards at the 1993 New Latin American Film Festival. People had been waiting for such film for a very long time: "Despite entrenched prejudices, Cubans almost rioted for seats at initial screenings, fearing the film would be yanked by government censors. The day it was released, a crowd of over 200 refused to disperse until a final screening was added at 2:30 a.m. (PopcornQ Movies)". This fact proves that the film Fresa y chocolate reflects thoughts and hopes of many Cubans: aspiration to ethical and cultural freedom and freedom of self-expression. The film is rather challenging, and it induces Cuban society to think of such eternal and democratic values as freedom of conscience and private life and people's desire to live their own life. In addition to that, the film can be also concerned as socialist propaganda, as the final of the film shows clear advantages of socialist system. But in spite of this fact the film screening is a clear evidence of changes taking place in Cuban society under Fidel Castro's rule, and so called "Mariel boatlift" became a clear sign of these social and cultural transformations. The problems presented in the film came to a head: "As an ideological project, it appears to represent a belated attempt to recuperate the gay community for the Cuban revolutionary project (West, 1995)". As was indicated above, the two protagonists of the film presented two different characters and ways of life, and people watching the film find obvious parallels of the film events and social and ethical changes taking place in Cuba in late seventies. The story of love, freedom, self-expression and tolerance was highly estimated by critics and the Cuban public. The rather provocative film Fresa y chocolate was made in difficult time for Cuba: instable economic life, poverty of vast majority of Cuban population and dissatisfaction of people in their life conditions. So, the film tried to find appropriate ways to solidarity in Cuban society: "The film's message of tolerance can be read as a call for revolutionary solidarity in the face of the current economic debacle and an increasingly cloudy political future (West, 1995)". The film Fresa y chocolate also has some attributes of melodrama: it unfolds emotional experiences among the characters of the film, uncovers cultural and ethical search of David and Diego as well as other characters (Nancy, German and Miguel). But the film has mostly political and ethical character, and its protagonists express their natural wishes in tradition of socialist cinema. The economic, cultural and spiritual crisis of Cuba under Fidel Castro's rule is clearly visible both inside the country and abroad. So, it is not casually that the film was acted namely in that time and even in 1979. As one of directors of the film, Gutierrez Alea, underlined, "1979 represents the end of a historical period, because the Mariel boatlift occurred in 1980, and that caused many things to change. So we preferred not to burden our plot with additional complications. The period before 1979 was also the time of greatest repression or discrimination against homosexuals (West, 1995)". But homosexual relations are not the main theme of the film, this film is about life, freedom, national identity and tolerance and their reflection in Cuban society in post revolution period. Fresa y chocolate unfolds also such essential problems of Cuba as artistic freedom, black market and many other ones which influence life of ordinary people in Cuba - this fact explains the great popularity of the film. As Gutierrez Alea indicated, "Strawberry and Chocolate may hold the record for the greatest number of Cuban viewers. I don't know. But at any rate, it is the film which has attracted the greatest number of viewers in the shortest period of time (West, 1995)". The film seems to be a revelation for Cuban people - many interesting sides of life are unfolded by the film. In Fresa y chocolate the main protagonists taught each other some unusual things which weren't familiar for them earlier: Diego and Nancy uncover David variety of emotional and passion life, while David shows Diego advantages of socialist state. Social tolerance scenes became the final of the film: David, who didn't like Diego at first, had now a clear notion about Diego's kind heart, and when Diego had to exile (for his support of the exhibition) they left each other as true friends. One of the themes of the film is also lost illusions of people in their ideals, and it was Diego who lost his illusion of socialist regime. Gutierrez Alea said that "Diego has also lost his illusions as regards the Revolution. He had wanted to be a schoolteacher. He had participated in the literacy campaign, and he had been abundantly enthusiastic about the Revolution (West, 1995)". 4. The paper discussed the main features of the film Fresa y chocolate and its impact on Cuban society life, as well its historical, moral and ethical background; it also has shown Cuban society and its contradictions according to the film, as well as the politics and its reflection in people's characters and actions. The paper also paid particular attention to the aim of the film and the importance of the film from the point of view of the historical period concerned. The aim of the film is to show variety of human relations and to demonstrate that such things as tolerance, freedom of self-expression and self-realization, mutual understanding of people should take place in our society. This view will become increasingly dominant in the coming century, as increased global cooperation and cultural understanding will result in positive attitude to human freedom and different forms of its expression. The film Fresa y chocolate became one of the most brilliant films in Cuba under Fidel Castro's rule, and its themes and motives are truly reflected in hearts and souls of Cuban people. Sources Fresa y chocolate by Toms Gutirrez Alea & Juan Carlos Tabo. Open Zone. (http://www.filmfestivalen.se/1994/Fresa.html) Fresa y chocolate. Department of Foreign Languages & Humanities (Spanish Section). Hispanic Film Series. Spring 1999. (http://www.foreignlanguages.eku.edu/CORTES-C/movie_reviews/fresa_chocolate.htm) Fresa y chocolate. IMDB. Earth's Biggest Movie Database. (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106966/) Santi, Enrico Mario. Fresa y Chocolate: the Rhetoric of Cuban Reconciliation. ICCAS Occasional Paper Series. May 2001. (http://www.miami.edu/iccas/STRAW.pdf) Strawberry & Chocolate. Amazon.com. (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/6303696805v=glance) Strawberry and Chocolate (Fresa y Chocolate). PopcornQ Movies. (http://www.planetout.com/popcornq/db/getfilm.html1882) West, Dennis. Strawberry and Chocolate, Ice Cream and Tolerance: Interview with Tomas Gutierrez Alea. Cineaste 21.1-2(1995): 16-19. (http://www.msu.edu/colmeiro/alea.html) Read More