In the Time of the Butterflies (2001)

A different way of telling a story

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

This is a very good and in my opinion underrated movie.Edward James Olmos at his best as he portrays the evil Trujillo a man who like Hitler became more evil as he got more power. He was a sexual sadist with a preference for young Mulatto girls which is how we get to the story in this movie.The movie follows mainly Salma Hayek's character and her naivety until she realizes what Trujillo is really like.The Mirabal sisters' assassination at the very end is sad but at least we are not shown the gory details.One of Salma Hayeks best movies and I wish she did more like this instead of movies that exploited her looks and body. She is a very intelligent women and a good actress as this and the film Frida shows her to be.

The narrative comment given on page 2 by "ABRAXAX" tells the story of the way things did take place, I remember my grandmother telling me in more details of everything that "ABRAXAX" says. But, my grandmother did tell me that not everyone know that the order to kill the sisters came from a relative of Trujillo; they blame Trujillo, but he was not aware of it; and he would not admit to that, since it would show that Trujillo was not able to control a few of this men. Also, somewhere on the 1st page of the comments section, some said that the CIA killed Trujillo; again, my grandparents told me "fueron los compadres" meaning his right hand men killed him; anyway, I haven't seen this movie and sadly I will not, since my sister tells me, "its not like grandma, told us" so I guess I don't want to spoil what I remember, at least for now; I guess I will watch it when I feel like watching a love story; like the movie Pearl Harbor. and again. I love that "ABRAXAX" summarized the story of Las Hermanas Mirabales :)

This was a real good movie. Later in time in the Dominican Republican they had a government named Trujillo. What ever Trujillo said went. If someone in the household did something bad, the man of the house would be the one to be sent to prison, killed , or tortured. At a party one of the Mirabal sisters got into it with Trujillo after he touched her butt and she slapped him. She was the outgoing one out of the sisters. She felt as though he deserved it because he disrespected her by doing that. There father was soon captured and sent to prison and tortured. Years later the Mirabal sisters and their husband were arrested for spreading the word about Trujillo. The Mirabal sisters were let out first but they kept their husbands imprisoned. One day they were coming back from the prison to try and get their husbands out and on the way back they were stopped on the road because Trujillo felt that they had done wrong. They were dragged into a collard patch and beaten to death and killed. This movie was really really good you should watch it too.

This movie was poorly made. The story was plane and dull. I have noticed in the past that even if the story is lacking, the direction of the movie came bring it out more; however the director of this movie did not. I'd have to agree with another post on the casting of indigenous people. The movie was filmed in Mexico and almost everyone in the movie was Mexican. One could joke and say, "I didn't know there were that many Mexicans in DR." I'd say its more like, since the Dominicans are either black, white, or somewhere in between (mulattoes)...To have native Indians of AZTEC decent acting as Dominicans in a movie about the regime of Trujillo is as far off as having Japanese people acting as Germans in the regime of Hitler. The story focused too much on Minerva and no one else. This mistake was also very apparent. It is a good real life event in our history that we should know more about. I've noticed that many people who are not Dominican don't know of Trujillo and the horrors he brought to the DR. Someone should really consider making another movie about Minerva and her sisters with a more accurate representation.