Search - Caribe on DVD

Melodramatic But Still Worth Watching

Chris Luallen | Nashville, Tennessee | 09/24/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Vicente (Jorge Perrugorria) and Abigal (Cuca Escribano) are a young couple seeking to build a life for themselves as bannana farmers in Costa Rica. But events conspire to turn their world upside down. First Abigal's long lost half-sister, Irene (Maya Zapata), shows up and begins to stay with them. Then Vicente becomes involved in a local protest movement to prevent an American oil company from exploiting the area's oil resources.

Irene and Vincente become lovers. Meanwhile, Vicente betrays his fellow protestors by switching sides in exchange for a tidy sum of money from the oil company. In the end, Vincente tries to do the right thing. But by then it is too late and tragedy follows.

This movie lacks subtly and it is pretty obvious what is going to happen from an early stage. But the dual plot lines keep the story moving and were enough to hold my interest. The cinematography is gorgeous and a great tourism promotion for the Carribean side of Costa Rica. But the acting, direction and other aspects of the movie are all a little below top notch. It's kind of like a Latin tele-novella striving for a grand artistic accomplishment and not quite making it. But still it's an interesting film that poses some intriguing moral questions. I consider it one worth watching."