''Bitter Coffee''The film ‘’Bitter Coffee’’ reminded me of a phenomenon that I had studied in children's literature: contempt of the countryside culture, a process that has taken place in all literary-artistic manifesttions since the 70s of the last century, not only in Latin America but in many countries around the world.
In the current Cuban culture there is a deep silence in the matter. However, the success and quality of ‘’Bitter Coffee’’ show that nothing in rural areas is exhausted, and that the public, critics and creators appreciate any story about the sociocultural space that contributes so much to our nation. ‘’Bitter Coffee’’ (directed by Rigoberto Jiménez) is one of the best cuban films of the last twenty years. It evades repeated and boring issues such as marginalization, low passions and moral decay that some recent cuban films superficially accuse.
The script (by the writers Arturo Arango and Xenia Rivery) is the cornerstone of ‘’Bitter Coffee’’. The tense passion of four sisters for the same young, the revolutionary struggle before 1959 and the strong life of the Cuban countryside show us the precise and noble expression of the countryside people make them complex and very sensitive characters. No falseness or manners, especially by the great performance of Yudexi de la Torre, Iliety Batista, Yunia Jerez, Mirelis Echenique, Yamisleydis Lam Reyes and Venice, as well as the photographs by José Pepe Riera.
‘’Bitter Coffee’’ brings us back to the Cuban countryside, splendid physical beauty, dramatic intensity and human greatness; this is the greatest merit of the film and the best surprise for us: its beauty and originality.
