Strawberry and Chocolate Film Review
...h Diego is trying to help exhibit. Diego even puts on a recording of Maria Callas to entertain his guest, and toasts him to whiskey-- the “enemy’s drink.” What is interesting is that the relationship between Diego and David was initiated upon lies—Diego has made a bet that he can seduce David, while David on the other hand was attempting to gather evidence to prove Diego’s counterrevolutionary identity. Yet, their relationship strengthens throughout its complexity, as David comes to understand and appreciate Diego as a mentor and an important friend. And despite his yearning for David, Diego encourages and supports Nancy (friend and neighbor)’s relationship with him. Diego’s continuous efforts to exhibit his friend’s religious sculptures caused him to be blacklisted, forcing him to leave Cuba. In the end, the directors successfully delivered a message of tolerance, as David in his farewell gives Diego his long -yearned warm hug for the first time. Diego’s character (which is superbly played by Jorge Perugorria) demonstrates a heroic figure oppressed by his political and sexual identity. In revealing his character, Alea and Tabio do not merely portray him as a homosexual (although they skillfully used humor in doing so) instead, they highlight Diego’s passion for Cuba and its cultural vibrancy. While listening to Maria Callas, Diego says “why can’t this island produce beautiful voice like this?” Diego does care about the welfare of Cuba and strongly supports Cuba’s cultural goals. He is more mature than David since he has progressed beyond David’s idealistic views and sees the Revolution as hypocritical because it does not fairly represent the entire Cuban population (such as the homosexuals and the bourgeois) Diego’s character parallels that of Sergio’s in Memories of Underdevelopment in that both of them belonged to the Europeanized middle or bourgeois class (Sergio to the bourgeois and Diego to the working class) who are lost and displaced during the Cuban Revolution. They are both underrepresented and targeted by bureaucrats. However, Diego is much more of a heroic figure because he constantly devotes his time and energy in helping to improve the cultural environment of Cuba. Sergio, on the contrary, contributes no work to the Revolution and spends his days in self-indulgence. Though not as wealthy as Sergio, they both own a collection of artistic/counterrevolutionary items which they enjoy within their private spheres. Also, Diego separates pleasure from work, while Sergio is driven by sexual desires. Most importantly, Diego is the one who sacrifices the most: he not only encourages Nancy to pursue David, but he is ultimately forced into exile. A brief critique of Nancy’s character is that her neurotic, unstable behavior is similar to Concha’s behavior in Too Afraid of Life or Splat! . Also, both female characters worship the Santa Barbara god. In an interesting scene, the camera films Nancy from a first person perspective as she speaks directly at the camera, and immediately the angle shifts to show that she is actually speaking to the Santa Barbara god. Furtherm...