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.
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yorkelvis7 April 2006
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mallard-1115 January 2007"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.
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ma-cortes17 August 2013At the beginning takes place a murder of a Spanish writer called Galindo (Gary Piquer) denouncing crimes of the dictator , as he is executed by Trujillo's hoodlums . This is the story of Urania Cabral (Isabella Rosellini), a Manhattan successful lawyer , after 30 years returns to República Santo Domingo, to face her past and remembers her father's (Paul Freeman) relationship to Rafael Trujillo (Tomas Milan) , a.k.a El Chivo (The Goat) . Her life is turned upside down when she has a meeting to Dominican dictator, as well as the events surrounding his assassination carried out by a motley group (Juan Diego Botto, David Zayas , among others) .
Based on the best-selling novel by Mario Vargas Llosa , it has well adapted , though adding some brief changes . It is less a feast than a somewhat rushed, but thoroughly thought-provoking and the main difference from the source novel was the sacrifice of psychological nuance. The film deals with horrifying circumstances that altered Urania Cabral's life forever when she was a teenager well played by Stephanie Leonidas and grown-up performed by Isabella Rosselini along with her relationship to Rafael Leónidas Trujillo for whom nothing in her present or future will ever be the same again . Good acting by Isabella Rossellini as a smart , kind ,and independent advocate at law whom, returns to to face her past ghost . Terrific acting by Tomas Milian as a sadist and maniac tyrant , he steals the show playing a disgusting and loathing character , including some unsettling scenes dealing with his relationship to Urania Cabral/Stephanie Leonidas . Being a Spanish/British co-production appears several fine Spanish actors such as Juan Diego Botto , Gary Piquer as well as British players such as Paul Freeman , Eileen Atkins , among others . Lavishly produced by Andres Vicente Gomez , the picture pays attention to period detail . Nice production design , all the exteriors were filmed in Santo Domingo, but the studio filming was done in Spain . Colorful as well as evocative cinematography by Javier Salmones . The motion picture was professionally directed by Peruvian Luis Llosa (Anaconda , The specialist , Sniper) , he is cousin of Mario Vargas Llosa .
The flick is based on fictional events as well as historical deeds deeds ; these are the followings : Rafael Trujillo (Tomas Milian) was a real dictator of the Dominican Republic from 1930 to 1961 and the official President of the Republic from 1930 to 1938 and 1943 to 1952, he was the iron-handed ruler of this island paradise. Trujillo's character struggles with aging and the physical problems . During his "thirty-one years of horrendous political crimes", modernized the country's infrastructure and military, but whose regime's attacks against its enemies overseas , particularly the attempted assassination of Rómulo Betancourt, president of Venezuela, led to the imposition of economic sanctions on the Dominican Republic by the Organization of American States in the 1950s. The resultant economic downturn, in conjunction with other factors, leads to the CIA supported assassination plot that ends Trujillo's life on May 30, 1961. Trujillo's regime is supported by Johnny Abbes García (Shawn Elliot), the head of the Military Intelligence Service (SIM), a brutal man to whom many "disappearances, executions are attributed. García and his intelligence officers are notorious for their cruelty, particularly their habit of killing dissidents by throwing them into shark-infested waters. Trujillo's son, Ramfis Trujillo (R. Alamo) , is a loyal supporter of the Chief. Upon Trujillo's death, Ramfis seeks revenge, even going so far as to torture and kill his uncle by marriage, General Jose Roman, for his part in the assassination conspiracy. Joaquín Balaguer (Pericles Mejia) , Trujillo's puppet president is also a supporter, and initially his seemingly innocuous character holds no real power. -
For Dominicans who lived Trujillo's oppressive tyranny, the film, as well as the novel, depicts thoroughly the essence of the regime's cruelty and the human degradation of the period. It is a MUST for Dominicans younger generations. Aside of these historical items, I consider the film well achieved, a thriller in the best sense of the expression, well acted,mainly by supporting cast. I understand thou, that because of the nature of the theme, it could no be not well understood by audiences outside Latin America, especially by moviegoers that prefer another kind of trendy violence, sex and special effects film-making. I am sorry to disagree with voters that give this picture such a low 5 punctuation
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insufra8 August 2007The 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.
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jcarloskent16 May 2006As a Dominican, I can say the movie cannot be considered as the movie about the Trujillo government, but about the story of how some things were in those years, specially how difficult was for some women specially that were attracted by Trujillo, and how Urania's life changed after going to help his father reputation while going to the supposed "party" with Trujillo, that became into the Goat's party as the movie is named. I haven't read the book yet, but I like the movie and I recommend it movie. For people interested in knowing about Trujillo's era, also you can see "In the times of the butterflies", it is also more realistic about Trujillo's times.
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racapellan200316 April 2006first of all this movie is nothing like the book and is definitely not the era of Trujillo. Hollywood is not, they should have given it to Hollywood but they didn't. it looks like it was filmed entirely at night, there's no show of the country because everything looks like it took place at night maybe because of lack of funds or imagination. the acting, well I rather not comment on that, suffice is to say that to me is worth 2 stars. the Spanish version, we have Trujillo speaking Catalan like if he was born in Spain, and so is everyone else for that matter, from the top of the military to the bellhop. I waited for this movie only to he highly disappointed, it sucks big time. thanks god I did not pay a lot of money to see it, then it would have been a really big disappointment. Iam Dominican, and in fact I even got to meet Trujillo once, and I tell you that wasn't him or even a close resemblance. I truly hope that one day, Hollywood would decide to do Trujillo justice and then we will have like a second godfather, full of the violence that existed during the period and true to trill's character.
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SebaZava2 April 2006At last, Luis Llosa, our "international" Peruvian director, after making movies such as "Anaconda", has made a good movie. La Fiesta del Chivo (or "The Feast of the Goat") is a very good movie based on Mario Vargas Llosa's novel of the same title: it's powerful, emotive, and of high caliber.
The movie tells the story of how the Dominican Republic's dictator, Trujillo, was killed, and also the story of a woman who was the victim of Trujillo's barbaric acts.
The acting in the movie is very good. Isabella Rosselini is specially powerful as the grown-up Uranita, and Paul Freeman is believable and emotive as Agustín Cabral, Urania's father and "friend" of Trujillo. The rest of the cast is also good, and are a good complement for the main actors. Special mention to Tomas Milian, whose Trujillo is impressive, imposing and powerful.
This is a truly good movie. It has great acting, competent direction, and an interesting and sometimes impacting story. (Spoilers - if you are a sensitive person, you MAY be affected by the rape scene.) This is a movie that truly deserves to be named along with the name of Mario Vargas Llosa - it's powerful, emotive and highly interesting. -
grafimaxrd27 April 2006I think The Feast of The Goat is a very good film, of course always taking into account that it is an adaptation of the novel by Mario Vargas Llosa, it is not a documentary, which means that not all the facts presented in the movie are real, some come from the imagination of the author. It you want to know what is real and what is not, then investigate about the Dominican history. This movie is a sad and interesting story of a woman that went through the same that many other women did in that time where the Dominican Republic belonged to Rafael Trujillo the Dictator for 30 years, they also show the atmosphere of fear and lack of respect for the human rights. The movie is located in the last years of the period so we can see the conspiracy to kill him, and the facts that leaded those people to do it. The performances of Tomas Milian as Trujillo and Stephanie Leonidas as young Urania were very convincing. The costumes were good but some of the ones Tomas Millian wears are big for him and it is very obvious. Isabella Rosellini is OK nothing to be remembered, she just does the job.
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arquen-melian4 April 2006Don'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.
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MillicentSkrewt27 April 2006As 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.
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The movie "La Fiesta del Chivo" ("Feast of the Goat") actually frightened me.
I retired to Puerto Rico in 1986. Most of my life I lived in New York State. I traveled frequently and extensively for more than 30 years around the United States doing trade shows for large global companies. More recently, I visited the Dominican Republic a few times. I know many Dominicans living in Puerto Rico. Furthermore, I vacationed through Latin and South America. I learned from this experience the difference between a Latino and an American political culture. The movie "La Fiesta del Chivo" ("Feast of the Goat") actually frightened me.
This movie is a about the brutal reign of Rafael Trujillo, the Dominican dictator, from 1930 up 1961 when he was assassinated. Rafael Trujillo was most definitely the "Devil" reincarnated. He was without a doubt a cruel psycho completely without decency or compassion for others. His specialty was to use his power to rape underage girls and degrade subordinates for petty reasons. Many of them would not dare protest. His subordinates followed him out of fear combined with greed that he may throw them a few crumbs as he robbed the economy of the Dominican Republic.
What disturbed me the most about the movie is that I got the feeling that if Puerto Rico were not under the territorial clause of the United States Constitution, it could easily be ruled today by a dictator like Rafael Trujillo, Batista or any of the other Latin American dictators. The only Spanish-language republic in South and Latin America, which never had a dictatorship, is Costa Rica.
The reason why Costa Rica was able to cultivate a national culture or mentality for continuous democracy is because it was never under the strong influence of Spain. It was left alone because it did not have gold or other mineral resources and was out of the way in the high mountains. It was isolated enough to avoid Spain's negative influence on its political development to be a democracy.
I often wonder if these Spanish cultures of Latin Ameria do not understand how government by the people, of the people and for the people functions. What is frightening is that the overwhelming majority of the Dominican people worshiped and blindly loved the brutal dictator Rafael Trujillo. When he was assassinated, hundreds of thousands of Dominican people mourned and wept because of his death. Only a few knew or wanted to believe that he was the devil reincarnated. Only a very few Dominicans were joyful about his death.
I will not bother to mention names, but here in Puerto Rico today there is group of political power brokers who have a leader capable of becoming a "Puerto Rican Trujillo." What stops this from happening is the presence of the United States Justice Department in Puerto Rico. I would not want to live in Puerto Rico if it was not under the American flag.
The irony of history is that the United States government during the period of Rafael Trujillo's undemocratic rule actually supported him. They supported him because they decided he would keep the Dominican Republic from becoming communist. Trujillo knew how to use the fear factor to con the administrations of the United States, regardless of whether they were Democratic or Republican presidents, to support him as a leading Latin America anti-communist. He gave the false impression that he had a pro-America foreign policy.
Unlike the Dominican Republic during the Cold War years, the United States government today is actually a safeguard to keep a dictator from coming to power in Puerto Rico. Since my arrival in 1986, there has been a steady parade of territorial officials being investigated, convicted and sent to federal prison for federal crimes. The parade is still going on. This process of federal investigations keeps the want-to-be "Rafael Trujillo's" from getting too powerful.
Behind his back, the opponents of Trujillo refer to him as "The Goat." Currently, here in Puerto Rico one of the top government officials is also called "The Goat." (Can you guess who he is?) If the United States Justice Department and the U.S. Congress did not have the power of the"Territorial Clause of the United States Constitution," I would fear this Puerto Rican official called "The Goat" as I did "La Chivo" in this excellent movie. -
Bx_TrUestNYC3 August 2006first of all the real version is in English and the movie needs more then 4 stars it was a great film and had an all UK star cast and u.s all star cast and it cost 8 million euros to make it id give this one 6 stars of how great the acting and the movie was especially Stephanie Leonidas who's of Dominican Greek and British orgin she was the best actress of the film so it make the film a great one oh and about the person who comment on it before he/she is wrong because the American producer of warner home video who's gonna bring the movie to the u.s said is going to be one of the best movie of the year 2006 so whoever comment on that the film was bad hop off! from Albert Vasquez Dominican American 15 year old bye