Customer Reviews

Bitter Sugar

5 star:		(44)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

This is truly an excellent film. It will make you laugh and cry. If you were born in the island, like I was, then it will hit home. This is the truth about Cuba. I am 28 years old and I lived it. All of those reviewers that are telling you otherwise are full of it. For the one reviewer that praised the Cuban government for allowing this film to be filmed in Cuba, get a little bit more informed. You seem to be as misinformed about this as the reality of the Cuban life and government. The film was filmed in the Dominican Republic. Castro's totalitarian regime would never have allowed this type of film to be filmed in Cuba. Some real footage were purchased and are from within the island.

Tender, heartwrenching, and very romantic, this film is amazing, and will give a better understanding of Cuba and its people.

This tragic love affair, set against the politics of repression is a story one won't forget...made vivid by the magnificent black and white cinematography and a marvelous soundtrack.

The acting by everyone is superb, and the two leads, Mayte Vilan and Rene Lavan, utterly gorgeous. Miguel Guitierrez is so moving in the beautifully written part of the father.

This is truly a wonderful film, and makes me so appreciative of the freedom I live in.

For me, "Azúcar Amarga" (Bitter Sugar) ranks right up there with the best films ever made about the Cuban experience under Fidel Castro. Although director Leon Ichaso must make due with Santo Domingo substituting for Havana, his real coup is that he's taken some cinema vérite footage he covertly filmed in Havana, smuggled it out of the country, and spliced it in with his Santo Domingo stuff.

The result is electrifying: as water cannons and batons rain down on protestors, a young man turns his face to the camera and says: "Tell the world what is happening here." Incredible.

To me, 'Azúcar' goes into the group of great films about Casto's Cuba, right beside 'Fresa y Chocolate' and 'Before Night Falls' (and, to a lesser extent, 'Guantanamera'). Unlike the others, 'Azúcar' is almost unrelentingly negative. There's no look at the hedonistic freedom of Batitsa's Cuba, like you get in 'Before Night Falls.' And there's none of the sly and gentle humor that marks 'Fresa.' Instead, the bloom is off the rose here. The regime is morally bankrupt and there's no going back.

As a Cuban American who came to this country at the age of 12, I was delighted to find a movie which so accurately depicts what my country is going through. Bitter Sugar is a love story, but it is more than that. It is the cinematic cliff notes of the 4-decade long suffering of a people. Anyone who has come from a Communist country will truly appreciate this film. Those of you who have not should make Bitter Sugar required viewing. I strongly encourage you to do so.

This movie is a poignant look at modern Cuba and the continuance of the disparity and the opposition to basic freedoms in Cuba.
Rene Lavan, known for his stint in tv, and now for Dirty Dancing 2 and Christmas with the Kranks, is stellar as man who has awakened from the dream of equanimity to a nightmare of injustice.

Rene plays Gustavo, a young revolutionary who has received a scholarship to study in Prague. His father, a mediocre psychiatrist, tries to keep his family afloat with humor and cliches about the revolution.

Gustavo's brother Bobby, a protester by day and a rocker by night, and ironically wearing a Che Guevara shirt, takes matters into his own hands. After being mercilessly beaten, he and his friends decide to inject themselves with AIDS-contaminated blood, giving new meaning to the saying, "Give me Liberty or Give me Death."

Gustavo's girlfriend Yolanda is a different kind of rebel. On the outside, she is an overly optimistic gal like Gustavo, but on the inside, she longs for abundance and a more easy going lifestyle. She pains to go to the other side, which she does at the end of the movie. She seduces an Italian tourist in order to enjoy the better things in life, while she falls for Gustavo whose intentions are practically pure.

Gustavo's perceptions of his beloved "patria," or nation change after realizing that his scholarship is fake, along with the beliefs that he held dearly. His professor confesses to him a regret of missing the chance to emigrate to Miami with his family. The academic tries to convey to Gustavo that regardless of his beliefs, he is responsible for his own fate.

In the end, Gustavo takes a drastic decision one that is ill-fated.

Rene's performance is the only one that is truly worth mentioning along with a fairly decent performance by the guy who plays his brother. Mayte although noteworthy in a couple of scenes, including an Ophelian type soliliquoy in the boudoir, is barely noticeable. However, between the beautiful photography, Rene's sincere and emotionally charged performance, and Leon Ichaso's perceptions of his beloved Cuba, make this an unforgettable and truly haunting look at the Communist nation.

This is an incredible film that was made on a very small budget. I believe some if not all the actors worked for free. If you are from Cuba you know how realistically real and scary this movie is. Leon Ichaso, the film's director hit the nail on the head on this movie because everything in it is exactly how it is and is all true. I left Cuba when I was four but I have since gone back to visit a few relatives that I have there and I can tell you that it is devastating to walk thru the streets and see all the filth,hunger and desperation of its people. This film hit me too close to home and I was moved to tears when I first saw it. To this day everytime I watch it I can't help the tears from rolling down my face. I'm glad that this brilliant movie has been made available on DVD so that more people can see it and take a closer look at the way desperate people live in a country that was once beautiful now torn apart by the harsh and cruel not to mention unhumane regime of Fidel Castro. The film was shot in black and white which makes it all the more real since it would be foolish to do a movie that takes place in Cuba in color since there isn't any. All of the actors did an excellent job with their roles. I wish this film would've of reached a bigger audience when release in 1996 but since it was a low budget film it was only seen by most people living in Miami where the majority of its population is cuban. If you care about what really goen on Cuba today and the struggles that the people over there go thru to break free from under its fascist regime you should see it. I have it in my movie collection and is one of my favorites but I can't watch it too often because it hurts too much. Overall is an excellent movie, I was dissapointed that it was not even considered for an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign film. This movie deserved not only the Oscar but praise and recognition worldwide.

Excellent movie. I am not Cuban. I am the child of a Holocaust survivor. This movie offers a clear picture of the experience young people have in Cuba today. The Socialist/Communist ideal is presented in a beautiful package to the young until they are ready to claim those promises. Suddenly there are only excuses and the reality sets in. It awakens the young to the reality of what this dicator and his government are about. Mostly false illusions and lies. There is a theme of love/hate. Love for a country and hate for the politics.

This is a powerful and stunning film, both visually and emotionally. It should be required viewing for all those who are "idealistic" enough to hold on to romantic visions of the corrupted Cuban Revolution. Watch this movie to see how the real people of Cuba suffer to survive amid the ruins of a failed economic and political system.

I saw this film a week after returning from a trip to Cuba. The characters were incredibly like the people I met and spoke with there. Absolutely spot-on accurate. Some reviewers think it's "too negative," but I can attest to it's veracity. It would be hard to come up with a movie too negative about the real-life dramas of hardship and disillusion the people of Cuba are living. If you want to travel to Cuba and can't find a way to go, this film is the next-best thing.

As a Cuban-American, I found this film to be very relevant and particularly timely. As a film, it was masterfully wrought; the protagonist's loves (for his country, family, and young dancer) were beautifully interwoven from their origins to their eventual demise. Cubano, ¡no te lo pierdas!