#3

In my Spanish III class, we started watching a movie called In the Time Of The Butterflies, about the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo in the Dominican Republic. I missed the end for a choir field trip, but I went home and rented it. I watched it two more times I loved it so much. The main characters are three sisters who become a huge part of the revolution against Trujillo. They create alliances with many churches and spread the word of change to many other Dominicans. Trujillo has a weird obsession with the oldest sister, Minerva. She uses this to her advantage and becomes the first female to attend law school. The sisters are shot at, attacked, ambushed and imprisoned, but they never give up on their goals. Eventually they are ambushed and beaten, but the message and their efforts live on. People in the Dominican Republic are killed if they speak out against the government, which is a culture much different than ours. In the United States, free speech is an amendment of the constitution, and anyone can go to law school. We are lucky to have such freedom in our country, but it highlights the strength of women in a dictatorship.