Product Details

• Actors: René Lavan, Mayte Vilán, Miguel Gutiérrez, Larry Villanueva, Luís Celeiro
• Directors: Leon Ichaso
• Writers: Orestes Matacena, Leon Ichaso, Pelayo García
• Producers: Leon Ichaso, Claudio Chea, Jaime Pina, Julio Carillo
• Format: Black & White, Subtitled, NTSC
• Subtitles: English
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: New Yorker Video
• VHS Release Date: October 6, 1998
• Run Time: 75 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (64 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 1567301312
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #341,251 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

In what may be the angriest portrait of Cuba ever made, director Leon Ichaso (Crossover Dreams) charts the journey of one young man from patriot to disillusioned dropout to angry rebel. Gustavo (René Lavan) is an idealistic young Marxist scholar who dreams of attending the University of Prague. When he falls for an earthy dancer with a more pragmatic view of her homeland, who plans to escape to Florida, his ideals are systematically chipped away in the face of poverty, repression, corruption, and police brutality until it all becomes too much for him to bear. A far cry from the more romantic work of Tomás Gutiérrez Alea (Strawberry and Chocolate), this film speaks volumes about a generation of exiles burning with anger and hate for Castro and his regime. It's also manipulative and heavy-handed, with Gustavo less a hero than a straw figure poised for a fall, and it's far less revealing than such self-critical Cuban features as Portrait of Teresa and Memories of Underdevelopment. But its vivid and passionate feelings of betrayal can hardly be dismissed. Ichaso shot portions of the film in Cuba and smuggled the footage out, but Santo Domingo doubles for Havana through the bulk of the feature. --Sean Axmaker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Film, June 12, 2000

By 

Cubano (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bitter Sugar [VHS] (VHS Tape)

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.

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Shouldn't be missed, October 2, 2000

By 

Alejandra Vernon "artist & illustrator" (Long Beach, California) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Bitter Sugar [VHS] (VHS Tape)

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.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The essence of cinema vérité, July 29, 2003

By 

Andy Orrock (Dallas, TX) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Bitter Sugar [VHS] (VHS Tape)

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.