LavenderRed_Cubabook

‘Strawberry & Chocolate’:
the sweet taste of change
In 1993, the Cuban state sponsored a ground-breaking movie, “Strawberry and
Chocolate” (Fresa y chocolate).
The movie tells the story of two young Cuban men—a heterosexual communist
and a homosexual. In his 1995 Cineaste article, Dennis West described the movie as
about two young men getting to know each other in Havana in 1979. David is the young
communist. Diego, the homosexual, West writes, “leaves in spite of his pro-Revolution
sympathies and his friend’s claim that there is a place for gays in the Cuban Revolution.”
(West)
The release of “Strawberry and Chocolate” in Cuba broke national box office records
and opened up an island-wide discussion about same-sex love and prejudice.
The movie’s script is an adaptation by author Senel Paz of his own very popular short
story, “The Wolf, the Woods and the New Man.”
Dennis West interviewed acclaimed Cuban director Tomás Gutiérrez Alea—affectionately
known to friends as “Titón” but also referred to as Alea—in August 1994.
Gutiérrez died, at age 68, in April 1996. West conducted the interview in Juarez, Mexico,
during the Second Festival of Latinamerican Cinema Paso del Norte; Dennis West and
Joan M. West translated the interview into English, edited it and published it in the
Winter-Spring 1995 edition of Cineaste.
The movie, which played simultaneously at 10 to 12 Havana theaters, drew lines of
Cubans that stretched for blocks. (Oberg)
When West asked Gutiérrez why he thought his movie “Strawberry and Chocolate”
so resonated in Cuba, the filmmaker answered that as soon as the movie opened after
the annual film festival, “There were very long lines to see it, and it ran for something like
three months in Havana. I think it had that response because it was a well-told story
with a theme that many people wanted to discuss in public. A theme that up until this
time had remained rather marginalized. I’m not referring just to the theme of homosexuality,
but rather to the theme of intolerance in general. I think that people really felt a
great need to reflect on this, and to reflect on it openly. For these reasons, the film became
a sociological phenomenon.”
When asked about the number of Cuban viewers who attended screenings, Gutiérrez
said, “‘Strawberry and Chocolate’ may hold the record for the greatest number of Cuban
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