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That's the claim made by young bohemian Carlos (Jorge Rodríguez) to his young paramour Margarita (Ernestina Canino) as they share a tender moment at her house's backyard. Little did they know that fate had other plans for them, at least for a brief moment.
Romance Tropical follows Carlos, whose efforts to be with Margarita are endangered when her father catches them together without permission. Unable to be with her at the moment, Carlos embarks on a trip on a sailboat and ends up in the mysterious island of Mu, where he meets Alura (Raquel Canino). Will he remain with his newfound native love, or will he return to his longlost Margarita?
This film decides to answer that question in all the wrong ways possible, and then some. Not only is the script plagued by racist stereotypes of island natives, but its message of selfishness, colonialism, plundering, fleeting love, and the overt importance of material possessions over anything else is problematic, to say the least.
Add to that the fact that most of the performances are pretty bad. If anything, Ernestina and the one that played her parent might've been the best of the bunch. I understand this is the first, if not one of the first sound films produced in Puerto Rico. Unfortunately, as culturally relevant as it might be, I'm not very interested in hearing what it has to say.
Grade:
ROMANCE TROPICAL
(1934, Viguié)
Freebie
(1934, Viguié)
Freebie
"You have come into my life like a dream, and from now on everything must change. To consecrate my whole life to you, it must be fine and pure like you."
That's the claim made by young bohemian Carlos (Jorge Rodríguez) to his young paramour Margarita (Ernestina Canino) as they share a tender moment at her house's backyard. Little did they know that fate had other plans for them, at least for a brief moment.
Romance Tropical follows Carlos, whose efforts to be with Margarita are endangered when her father catches them together without permission. Unable to be with her at the moment, Carlos embarks on a trip on a sailboat and ends up in the mysterious island of Mu, where he meets Alura (Raquel Canino). Will he remain with his newfound native love, or will he return to his longlost Margarita?
This film decides to answer that question in all the wrong ways possible, and then some. Not only is the script plagued by racist stereotypes of island natives, but its message of selfishness, colonialism, plundering, fleeting love, and the overt importance of material possessions over anything else is problematic, to say the least.
Add to that the fact that most of the performances are pretty bad. If anything, Ernestina and the one that played her parent might've been the best of the bunch. I understand this is the first, if not one of the first sound films produced in Puerto Rico. Unfortunately, as culturally relevant as it might be, I'm not very interested in hearing what it has to say.
Grade: