Movie Analysis Essay on In the Time of the Butterflies

Introduction

This is the film that was released back in 2001, and it was produced by a particular television show network which was directed by Mariano Barroso. This film is based on one specific novel known as in the time of the butterflies that was written by Julia Alvarez. Their film story, and it is based on the sisters of Mirabal as the activists in the revolution and they are famous of being the opposition to Rafael dictatorship which made them get assassinated in the year 1960. The Mirabal sister faced a lot of question back in the year 1994cwhen they had to stand against something wrong. When people make such a decision, they are likely to put even their family members in significant problems and danger. Their involvement in the aspect of resistance in the Dominican Republic dictatorship creates quite a storyline that keeps the audience hooked to their seats while watching the film. Several themes revolve around this particular film which is based on a novel that had been written. These themes emerged as a result of these sisters fighting against the dictatorship. The themes include dictatorship, women, religion, Freedom and imprisonment, courage and cowardice among others.

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The violence that might take place towards women occurs everywhere in the whole world. It is therefore so unfortunate that there are not a lot of things that are done in the prevention of such violence and tragedies which in most cases causes the victims to lose their lives. In In the Time of the Butterflies film some crimes take place not just to women but also to men who display their bravery to oppose the dictatorship in that particular regime. These people do this intending to pay the ultimate price in making their own country a better place for everyone to live. The Mirabal sisters' story is based on truth whereby they are attacked on the way and beaten to death but a group of men because of opposing the dictatorship. They were charged with the cases of trying to withdraw the government, and this is what led them to such a brutal act. The film displayed the actual pictures of the victims when Rafael Trujillo had full control over the Dominican Republic. His dictatorship had a backup on the secrets with the aristocrats, church, press and all the intellectuals. This leader was full of brutal acts and would murder anyone who opposed his power.

Dictatorship

In the Time of The Butterflies film, the theme of dictatorship is highly displayed, and it mainly focuses on the authoritarian regime in the Dominican Republic with Rafael as the leader, and it lasted for quite some time from 1930 to 1961. Being described as a megalomaniacal dictator, Rafael personality is believed to be taking all the aspects of life, and he is addressed as the antagonist in this particular film. Thought the film there several ways that are displayed by the film director showing how the dictator affects both daily life and politics. This comes up when anyone mentions the dictator's name in a way that is not complimentary, and this leads people to be murdered publicly (Ink 790). Trujillo is also linked up with other dictators in the world who are very famous including Mussolini and Hitler. Rafael is the head of the government displayed to be capable of acting several characters where he even goes to the extent of seducing Minerva, and this appears to be personal revenge whereby she is denied the Freedom of using her law degree. This is an aspect of oppression to the people, and they do not deserve it at all. In this context, the theme of dictatorship is highly conducted by Trujillo who took power as the head of the state and especially being the head of the army in the nation, and he tries to overthrow the former president of the government and get to set himself as the president. This president ruled over 31 years under dictatorship, and he was referred to order in the name of a cult which was taken as his personality. He even referred to himself as the benefactor to the whole nation and went ahead also to rewrite the history books to show that he was the birth of history.

This president was full of brutal actions during his ruling, and he even named the capital city of this nation after his name which was Trujillo city. He also made sure that all the statutes of him were placed everywhere in the whole country and the churches were also forced to post a specific slogan which described Trujillo as being on earth and God in heaven. During the reign of this president, there was a lot of economic prosperity in the nation, and there was quite a lot of stability (McCallum 100). Rafael conducted the aspect of dictatorship in his ruling and made most of the people suffer in a very significant way. He would punish people thoroughly who failed to obey is ruling, and this resulted in people who were brave to resist, but they would be bullied to the point of even being beaten to death. The economic stability during this period was highly associated with most of the people in the nation being tortured, and the cost of this stability was related to the loss of the civil liberties together with the system of the espionage. All the prosperity was only meant to benefit the family of Trujillo and also their friends, and this left all the other people suffering.

The Mirabal sisters who are displayed in the film are brave enough to act as the antagonist towards the rule of Trujillo through a lot of struggle, and they both use their personal lives in trying to bring down the Trujillo who the brutal dictator. They even face a lot of discrimination and men also get to the point of attacking them and beating them to death (Puleo 15). The film displays the pictures of the victims who have suffered the dictatorship. The personality of this president is quite brutal where he rules with a lot of discrimination where he is only concerned with his family and friends, and all the other people in the nation are left to suffer despite the economic stability in the country. Trying to change everything in the country to be just under his favor is quite frustrating to all the other people in the country making them live a complicated life.

Religion is such an important theme that is addressed in this particular film where it is taken as a dominant force in the characters that are in the movie and also concerning the Dominican Republic politics. The religion in this nation is predominantly Catholic. The sisters belong to the Patria religion, and they are displayed to undergo quite some spiritual struggles. The political realm in the Trujillo ruling the Catholic Church is showed to remain neutral based on the ruling of the Trujillo who was a dictator (Rich 173). This makes the sisters very bitter when they find out theta their religion is not respected at all. The priest and several other Catholics support the resistance. The strength comes in when these people tend to witness a massacre that took place during a particular religious retreat. This, therefore, makes the leaders in the Catholic take a stand against Trujillo and they start condemning him while they are in their pulpit. The regime does not hesitate in responding to this particular religion, and they immediately begin fighting them. The Catholic faith struggles fully in fighting for its people by condemning Trujillo highly. Trujillo returned to the Catholic Church through the use of war that was very strong, and this made the sisters even bitterer.

The movie director is also seen to explore another religion aspect which shows that connection between God and the dictatorship. Trujillo being associated with a secret cult is a way that he sees himself as being related to God. He has even incorporated a certain known as God and Trujillo whereby he claims himself as the benefactor to the whole nation, and he also goes to the point of referring to himself as the one who watches over the people. Trujillo pictures are even put next to any depiction of Jesus, and this appears to be a way of comparison between him and the spiritual realms (Brown 100). Such acts lead to a lot of effects to the religious perspective who genuinely believe in Jesus as being divine justice and whom at the same time view Trujillo as just an earthly power. There is an aspect of evil, and good and Patria tends to question God as a result of allowing Trujilloallowing Trujillo to rule the earth through a brutal and dictatorship manner making a lot of people to suffer. Patria starts praying to Trujillo to spare her family whereby in this context she only gets to think that Trujillo is the only man but later on realizes that he is full of evils. Finally, Trujillo gets all his propaganda working where he is adored as a god but he appears to an evil god, and this makes the church to start acting against him.

Courage versus Cowardice

Courage and cowardice are also some of the major themes that are addressed in this particular film. In this context, there are people in The Dominican Republic who appear to be very afraid to Trujillo ruling which is more than brutal. All the characters in this film are displayed to have individual struggles concerning cowardice and courage. This is because the informers and spies are presented to exist everywhere in this particular nation. This, therefore, makes people not to trust each other even if they are their family members (Socolovsky 17). In this context, all the Mirabal sisters are given the opportunity of making a particular choice in making trouble based on the courage and the cowardice. This would only occur after they experience all the evils of Trujillo in his ruling regime. Minerva is displayed as one of the most courageous among all the other sisters, and she is outspoken, and she is also the leader of the other sisters based on political activities. She finally finds it more than painful in maintaining her role as a national symbol of courage (Hickman 99). Patria is also displayed in this film as undergoing some struggles concerning neutrality and pacifism which is based on her faith and husband. She attains the courage and risks her life in joining the rebellious group in the nation against Trujillo. Dede is the only lady who is seen to accept the fear defeats her and acquires a particular choice of avoiding the incident of getting involved in the rebellion acts. In the beginning, she shows her cowardice aspect but later on the film director displays her to be a brave lady after being guilty of several years.

Conclusion

Correlation of Latin America before and today displays much different concerning what was taking place and how various things have changed. This film dramatically shows how violence occurred and how people were highly tortured. In today's world, violence is managed in several different ways. Any military or government powers conducting any form of brutality or violence are highly investigated through various aspects. The investigations assist in addressing several issues that are full of impunity and improvement is gained especially for the equality of human rights.

Works Cited

Ink, Lynn Chun. "Remaking Identity, Unmaking Nation: Historical Recovery and the Reconstruction of Community in In the Time of the Butterflies and The Farming of Bones." Callaloo 27.3 (2004): 788-807.

McCallum, Shara. "Reclaiming Julia Alvarez: In the Time of the Butterflies." Women's Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal 29.1 (2000): 93-117.

Puleo, Gus. "Remembering and Reconstruction the Mirabal Sisters in Julia Alvarez's" In the Time of the Butterflies." Bilingual Review/La Revista Bilingue 23.1 (1998): 11-20.

Rich, Charlotte. "Talking Back to El Jefe: Genre, Polyphony, and Dialogic Resistance in Julia Alvarez's" In the Time of Butterflies." Melus 27.4 (2002): 165-182.

Brown, Isabel Zakrzewski. "Historiographic Metafiction in" In the Time of the Butterfli...