Strawberry & Chocolate

Featuring a charismatic performance from Cuban star Jorge Perugorría, this 1993 drama about relative notions of personal and political liberation comes across as a bit dated now, but still remains a touching and intriguing two-person drama. Co-written and co-directed (with Juan Carlos Tabío) by Cuba's once most famous filmmaker, the late Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, Strawberry & Chocolate stars Perugorria as Diego, a gay writer and activist who is under official scrutiny in Havana. Targeted by a group of young Communists intent on ideological purity and plain old homophobia, Diego's culturally expansive, highly literate world is invaded by David (Vladimir Cruz), who is sent undercover to befriend Diego and gather evidence that can convict him. Instead, David finds himself opening up to the world under Diego's influence and passion, although the latter sees right through David's initial ruse. The trusting personal relationship that follows—within the island nation's pervasive fear and betrayal—becomes the warm center of the film. Alea understandably plays things a bit safe given the political atmosphere in which he shot his Oscar-nominated film. Diego is not drawn as a truly three-dimensional gay man, but the same could be said of Tom Hanks's character in the mainstream AIDS drama Philadelphia (also from 1993). And that limitation doesn't stand in the way of Alea's smart critique of revolutionary blindness. Recommended. (T. Keogh)