I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

The acting in this movie is really good.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

The problem with this film is that you have a director ,producer from other countries and actors speaking castilian they don't get the feeling of the era of Trujillo's's dictatorship,and can't make it work, I Lived that ERA, the fear of Trujillo's SIM (Intelligence Service) was tremendous and one thing that distinguish that Era was that those that served the regime were very protective of any anti-Trujillo's's ideas and served as an extension of his government to protect their own lives and that of their families, fear of him and his goons (Johnny Abe), although at the time of this movie things were changing was enormous, you never get that feeling during this movie, to me this film is just one of thousands,that were lived in the country in his 30 years.

"La Fiesta del Chivo" is a startling look at the long-running dictatorship of Leonidas Trujillo (1930-1961)in Republica Dominicana, seen through the eyes of one of his youngest victims. The delightful Isabella Rosselini plays Uranita, the long lost child that wanders back home thirty years after fleeing. In a series of flashbacks we see the country where she spent her early days, the dangers and horrors of a tyranny she couldn't possibly understand and the haunting reasons why she fled. Tomas Milian convincingly plays the lewd dictator with all his whims, coarseness and vanity. Paul Freeman is at his best playing Uranita's widowed father, Agustín Cabral, lifelong aide to the strongman and a staunch prop of the regime. A street scene depicts a lighted "ad" placed outdoors which reads "Dios y Trujillo", ominously summing up all the terror of a Third World tyranny.

The movie "La Fiesta del Chivo" ("Feast of the Goat") actually frightened me.I retired to Puerto Rico in 1986. Most of my life I lived in New York State. I traveled frequently and extensively for more than 30 years around the United States doing trade shows for large global companies. More recently, I visited the Dominican Republic a few times. I know many Dominicans living in Puerto Rico. Furthermore, I vacationed through Latin and South America. I learned from this experience the difference between a Latino and an American political culture. The movie "La Fiesta del Chivo" ("Feast of the Goat") actually frightened me.This movie is a about the brutal reign of Rafael Trujillo, the Dominican dictator, from 1930 up 1961 when he was assassinated. Rafael Trujillo was most definitely the "Devil" reincarnated. He was without a doubt a cruel psycho completely without decency or compassion for others. His specialty was to use his power to rape underage girls and degrade subordinates for petty reasons. Many of them would not dare protest. His subordinates followed him out of fear combined with greed that he may throw them a few crumbs as he robbed the economy of the Dominican Republic. What disturbed me the most about the movie is that I got the feeling that if Puerto Rico were not under the territorial clause of the United States Constitution, it could easily be ruled today by a dictator like Rafael Trujillo, Batista or any of the other Latin American dictators. The only Spanish-language republic in South and Latin America, which never had a dictatorship, is Costa Rica. The reason why Costa Rica was able to cultivate a national culture or mentality for continuous democracy is because it was never under the strong influence of Spain. It was left alone because it did not have gold or other mineral resources and was out of the way in the high mountains. It was isolated enough to avoid Spain's negative influence on its political development to be a democracy.I often wonder if these Spanish cultures of Latin Ameria do not understand how government by the people, of the people and for the people functions. What is frightening is that the overwhelming majority of the Dominican people worshiped and blindly loved the brutal dictator Rafael Trujillo. When he was assassinated, hundreds of thousands of Dominican people mourned and wept because of his death. Only a few knew or wanted to believe that he was the devil reincarnated. Only a very few Dominicans were joyful about his death. I will not bother to mention names, but here in Puerto Rico today there is group of political power brokers who have a leader capable of becoming a "Puerto Rican Trujillo." What stops this from happening is the presence of the United States Justice Department in Puerto Rico. I would not want to live in Puerto Rico if it was not under the American flag. The irony of history is that the United States government during the period of Rafael Trujillo's undemocratic rule actually supported him. They supported him because they decided he would keep the Dominican Republic from becoming communist. Trujillo knew how to use the fear factor to con the administrations of the United States, regardless of whether they were Democratic or Republican presidents, to support him as a leading Latin America anti-communist. He gave the false impression that he had a pro-America foreign policy. Unlike the Dominican Republic during the Cold War years, the United States government today is actually a safeguard to keep a dictator from coming to power in Puerto Rico. Since my arrival in 1986, there has been a steady parade of territorial officials being investigated, convicted and sent to federal prison for federal crimes. The parade is still going on. This process of federal investigations keeps the want-to-be "Rafael Trujillo's" from getting too powerful. Behind his back, the opponents of Trujillo refer to him as "The Goat." Currently, here in Puerto Rico one of the top government officials is also called "The Goat." (Can you guess who he is?) If the United States Justice Department and the U.S. Congress did not have the power of the"Territorial Clause of the United States Constitution," I would fear this Puerto Rican official called "The Goat" as I did "La Chivo" in this excellent movie.

first of all this movie is nothing like the book and is definitely not the era of Trujillo. Hollywood is not, they should have given it to Hollywood but they didn't. it looks like it was filmed entirely at night, there's no show of the country because everything looks like it took place at night maybe because of lack of funds or imagination. the acting, well I rather not comment on that, suffice is to say that to me is worth 2 stars. the Spanish version, we have Trujillo speaking Catalan like if he was born in Spain, and so is everyone else for that matter, from the top of the military to the bellhop. I waited for this movie only to he highly disappointed, it sucks big time. thanks god I did not pay a lot of money to see it, then it would have been a really big disappointment. Iam Dominican, and in fact I even got to meet Trujillo once, and I tell you that wasn't him or even a close resemblance. I truly hope that one day, Hollywood would decide to do Trujillo justice and then we will have like a second godfather, full of the violence that existed during the period and true to trill's character.