I couldn't stop thinking about this film after watching it. It is remarkable how life has deteriorated in Cuba since I left in 1980 at the tender age of fifteen. This was the same year Lavan left the island on the Mariel boat lift. My family moved to Chicago, not Miami, so I quickly blended into American society and 'forgot'about Cuba. Family members who left post Mariel often described the conditions there, but I could never bring myself to fathom so much of it was real. I'm extremely grateful to be an American citizen living the American dream. However, my heart 'cries' for the many young people who are trapped in an obsolete communist society where they can't even afford to have dreams. This movie forced me to consider how the lives of my young nieces and nephews might have turned out. My father fought for Cuba's Revolution; he was a young idealist revolutionary just like Gustavo. Dad left the island in 1986 after years of disillusionment. People who haven't lived 'it' can't comprehend it. I'm always fascinated by those individuals who are quick to criticize anti-Castro voices, even though they've never actually experienced life in an oppressive regime. How could they possibly understand that living there is like living in an insane asylum? The AIDS facility were Gustavo's brother was forcibly interned is nothing more than a microcosm of the entire island of Cuba where people hopelessly and aimlessly exist. Not live, but exist. I give this movie the highest rating. It deserves it.
Review of Bitter Sugar
