Change Your Image
jayscot
Reviews
Manuela Sáenz (2000)
Worth viewing especially for PanAmerican history
I watched this film in the Manuela Saenz museum in Quito, Ecuador surrounded by many artifacts owned by Manuela Saenz and Simon Bolivar. It was rather long for a museum visit but helps in understanding a lot of American history and one of the celebrated liberators of Ecuador.
I say "American" because this is what they call themselves. For those North Americans reading this there is an America with an older history than the USA. We call it South America but they that live there are just as American as anyone else. This film is about the liberation of the Americas and the women and men that fought and died.
Whether true or not, it is an amusing use of a young Herman Melville in the film to preserve the story of Manuela. Herman did actually publish Moby Dick a short time after the apparent time of his discussion of the book with Manuela.
Once I got over my frustration of being stuck watching a very long movie in a museum (without any warning as to the length) I settled into the story and enjoyed the plot. I do not think the version I saw was only 97 minutes as I am sure I timed it as 122 minutes playing from a DVD.
However the English translation is amusing at times as the translators use literal translation perfect English to replace Spanish phrases. As in many areas (of especially Ecuador) the use of English speakers would assist the locals in translating.