Marc Anthony Movie:

Editorial Review:
In the Time of the Butterflies tells the real-life story of the Mirabal sisters, courageous revolutionaries known covertly as las Mariposas ("the Butterflies"). The sisters' years of dissent during the Trujillo dictatorship in the Dominican Republic led to their eventual murder in 1960, a brutal crime that signaled the beginning of the end for Trujillo. Told through the eyes of Minerva Mirabal (Salma Hayek), the story follows a somewhat predictable plot line as the sisters progress rapidly from naive to idealistic to victimized and on to resolved as they become leaders in an elaborate plot to assassinate the dictator. As with so many biographical depictions on film, even though this one is based on a highly acclaimed novel by Julia Alvarez, the narrative shifts from past to present are clumsy and excessively sepia-toned; the script delivers its life-was-better-before-sequence with little to no grace before quickly connecting the dots of history. Nevertheless, Edward James Olmos, as Trujillo, does a remarkable job of conveying the unique mixture of political intuition and ruthlessness needed to maintain a dictatorship for 30 years, while Hayek delivers a spirited lead performance. --Fionn Meade

In the Time of the Butterflies Reviews:
DVD purchase
2009-10-27 - I ordered this for my classroom, needing it within a week. It arrived in ONE DAY on a two-day shipping request. Thank you! My lesson plans are on schedule, and my students will enjoy this awesome documentary on the Mayan culture. Great!

I remember the Mirabal sisters!
2009-09-10 - This book takes me back to when I was 9 or 10 years old and first heard about how Trujillo, the dictator that had just been assassinated, did away with the sisters just because, as they put it back then, one of them did not go along with his sexual advances. It was a story destined to be written and worthy of telling.

True to the novel and a great unit for high school teachers
2009-04-05 - The video follows the plot and major details of the novel well. I use the movie for reinforcement after my high school classes read the novel. Some producers/directors take liberties with films, adding or augmenting the original literary work, but that is not the case in this particular production. As with most movies, however, portions of the novel are not represented in the film.

Salma Hayek and Edward James Olmos do not overpower their roles with their own personalities. In fact, Olmos' portrayal of Rafael Trujillo was surprisingly credible.

I do not recommend this film for students younger than 15 because of the violence in the movie.

I highly recommend both the novel and the movie, however, for high school classes and adults seeking relevant literature created by Latina writer Julia Alvarez. The movie's protagonists (the Mirabal sisters) demonstrate their religious fervor, patriotism, and family values. The historic context and setting (Dominican Republic, 1920s, to the U.S., 1950s) and the rebellion against dictator Rafael Trujillo, coupled with themes of honor and human rights, makes this a 4-star film.

My classes read the book together and listened to portions of the audio book. Students had tons of questions; they researched, shared, talked about family values, and eventually viewed the movie. It was a terrific unit!





Disappointing after Reading the Novel
2009-03-05 - As with many movies based on novels, this one falls far short of Julia Alvarez' written account of the legendary Mirabal sisters under Trujillo's Dominican Republic dictatorship. Though I highly recommend the novel, probably as the best I've ever read, the movie doesn't begin to reach such heights.

The story is an important one, about Trujillo's dictatorship of the 1930s-1960s, during which some 30,000 innocent people were executed. Edward James Olmos does a good job in the role of Trujillo. Yet the story is somewhat choppy, the character development is weak, and the story line is lacking the depth and the emotion of the novel. Whereas the novel stylistically develops the characters of all four Mirabal sisters in their own voices, the movie concentrates mainly on Minerva.

This story is one everyone should hear, but I strongly recommend the novel over the movie. That said, having already studied the history to fill in the gaps, I do enjoy the movie.

Satisfied
2008-11-10 - This movie was really interesting, it shows life for the people who live under a dictator. Very good acting in the part of Selma Hyak and Edward Olmos. Selma's character was that of a strong and determined woman.