This Oscar nominated film is the story of two men who are opposites, one gay, the other straight, one a fierce communist, the other a fierce individualist, one suspicious, the other accepting, and how they come to love each other.
Roger Ebert comments that "nothing unfolds as we expect. Strawberry and Chocolate is not a movie about the seduction of a body, but about the seduction of a mind. It is more interested in politics than sex — unless you count Sexual Politics, since to be homosexual in Cuba is to make an anti-authoritarian statement whether you intend it or not." I don't know anything about homosexuality in Cuba, though my guess is that it was rather taboo in 1993, much like in most of the western world. But I do know that very few Cuban films get screened in the US, and even fewer get Oscar nominations. That alone makes this film worth watching, because it exposes us to a culture that we rarely get to see... (though today -- 2017 -- travel does seem to be a bit easier)
Roger Ebert comments that "nothing unfolds as we expect. Strawberry and Chocolate is not a movie about the seduction of a body, but about the seduction of a mind. It is more interested in politics than sex — unless you count Sexual Politics, since to be homosexual in Cuba is to make an anti-authoritarian statement whether you intend it or not." I don't know anything about homosexuality in Cuba, though my guess is that it was rather taboo in 1993, much like in most of the western world. But I do know that very few Cuban films get screened in the US, and even fewer get Oscar nominations. That alone makes this film worth watching, because it exposes us to a culture that we rarely get to see... (though today -- 2017 -- travel does seem to be a bit easier)