Miel Para Oshun

Rating:
Summary: Well done!
Review: Being a Cuban American who left Cuba at 15 years of age and having gone back with my husband and children 30+ years later, this was a VERY emotional movie for me! I found the movie to be very realistic in depicting the pain and sorrow which every Cuban-American feels in being away from our homeland, as well as the bitter-sweet experience of going back.
Marina
Pembroke Pines, Florida

Rating:
Summary: A Tender and Moving Cuban Road Movie
Review: MIEL PARA OSHUN (Honey for Oshun) is an absorbingly rich and rewarding story about the search for familial roots. As a child, Roberto was sent to Miami with his father when the Revolution took over. Though he longed to return to Cuba for a visit, his father denied that request. Now, after his father's death, Roberto flies to Cuba, looks up his cousin Pilar, learns that his mother did NOT desert him by sending him on the boat to Miami, but indeed loved him and is still alive somewhere in Cuba. With Pilar's support and the good graces of a friendly cab driver (Antonio) the three set off on a seemingly fruitless journey to find Carmen, Roberto's long lost mother. The road trip is far from easy, emotionally and physically, with many barricades along the way, both comic and sad. Eventually, through the help of a Spiritual Woman the three discover the truth about Carmen, about each other, and about life in a country that makes existence a fragile entity. The three actors who dominate the film are excellent and the story line is always driven with forward momentum, never drowning in self-pity or condemning either the Cubans who live on the island or the Cuban Americans who come to visit. The picture is truly three-dimensional. The only problems with the movie (and which keep it from 5 stars) are technical ones: the background noise is so loud that it covers the dialogue (where is the sound editor and his Dolby filter?) and the quality of color is washed out to almost white. In some ways these flaws enhance this beautiful film, as it seems it is made with the scant resources afforded the arts in Cuba. MIEL PARA OSHUN is very worthwhile, gives insights into an Island that remains a mystery to most of us, and celebrates the importance of family - both biological and extended. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: A Tender and Moving Cuban Road Movie
Review: MIEL PARA OSHUN (Honey for Oshun) is an absorbingly rich and rewarding story about the search for familial roots. As a child, Roberto was sent to Miami with his father when the Revolution took over. Though he longed to return to Cuba for a visit, his father denied that request. Now, after his father's death, Roberto flies to Cuba, looks up his cousin Pilar, learns that his mother did NOT desert him by sending him on the boat to Miami, but indeed loved him and is still alive somewhere in Cuba. With Pilar's support and the good graces of a friendly cab driver (Antonio) the three set off on a seemingly fruitless journey to find Carmen, Roberto's long lost mother. The road trip is far from easy, emotionally and physically, with many barricades along the way, both comic and sad. Eventually, through the help of a Spiritual Woman the three discover the truth about Carmen, about each other, and about life in a country that makes existence a fragile entity. The three actors who dominate the film are excellent and the story line is always driven with forward momentum, never drowning in self-pity or condemning either the Cubans who live on the island or the Cuban Americans who come to visit. The picture is truly three-dimensional. The only problems with the movie (and which keep it from 5 stars) are technical ones: the background noise is so loud that it covers the dialogue (where is the sound editor and his Dolby filter?) and the quality of color is washed out to almost white. In some ways these flaws enhance this beautiful film, as it seems it is made with the scant resources afforded the arts in Cuba. MIEL PARA OSHUN is very worthwhile, gives insights into an Island that remains a mystery to most of us, and celebrates the importance of family - both biological and extended. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: A DEFINITIVE FILM ON FAMILY REUNIFICATION!!!!
Review: Once again Pregurria(Strawberries and Chocolate) shows his wonderful talent in this moving flick. The movie transcends the tragic family separation that has affected cubans both in the US and in the island. It has relevance to general third-world migration patterns and the consequent separation of families who for economic and political reasons must not only leave their homeland but their treasured loved ones a well. I happened to relate to the movie very emotionally given my early rupture from both my parents as they emmigrated to the US when i was only five. A year later i joined them but only after going through the most depressing year of my life. Miel Para Oshun captures exceedingly well the angst that both parents and children feel from being separated by reasons beyond their control. The movie relates the story in a very objective and neutral way such that both cuban exiles and revolutionaries cannot finger point one another as to the cause of this problem. Of course, one must always keep in mind that US immigration policy for Cuba probably foments this kind of family separation more so than in any other country. I find it immoral to have laws that favor illegal immigration by accepting only cuban rafters who make it to american soil on the sole premise that they come from a nation whos government the US despises.

Rating:
Summary: Worst Cuban Film Ever (I'd give it zero stars)
Review: Poor directing, terrible acting, dismal filming (hand-held camera resulting in jittery scenes) unconvincing characters and a disguised political agenda make this the worst Cuban film I've had the agony of sitting through. Jorge Perugorría was great in "Strawberry and Chocolate" but his performance is dismal in this film. His character is simply not believable as a Cuban American returning to his country of birth as a man looking for his mother after being "abducted" by his father as a child, and raised in Miami.

Jorge Perugorría's character Roberto, with the aid of his cousin Pilar (played by Isabel Santos) and taxi driver Antonio (Mario Limonta) undertake a road trip across Cuba to find his long lost mother. With little to go on, except some old photographs and the revelations of a "santera" who tells him that his mother can be found where Ochún, (correct spelling) orisha of rivers whose offerings include honey, meets Yemayá, orisha of the ocean, Roberto's determination to find his mother is put to the test.

Although very few pro-government billboards with pictures of Castro and Ché are shown, (they are ubiquitous in Cuba) this movie is just another pro-Castro political statement aimed at Cubans inside the island desperate to leave the country. The film makes a poor attempt to sell the idea that no matter how bad the internal situation is, and no matter how hopeless life may seem, it is better to stay and live under these hardships rather than break up the family by emigrating.

Don't waste your time or money on this movie. In my opinion it's not worth the celluloid it was printed on.