Review of Beatriz at Dinner (2017) by Sosha — 24 Jun 2017

I just saw this movie and quite honestly, I was shocked and relieved at the same time. I was shocked because I couldn’t imagine how this movie got the financing it needed to get shoot; and relieved because now I have an idea about what is presented to our societies. Separate from the standard blockbuster movies we usually see at the theaters, I have been noticing a new trend of films.

By the way, I am not going to write about what the movie is about, since, I assume, if you are already here reading, you might have an idea about this film. So this movie opposing good against bad, poor against rich, environmentalists against huge corporations, animal lovers against animal killers has a consequential effect upon our views and understandings of our societies. I have wasted my time watching this film. It presented us with a usual introduction to a person / problem. It stayed with the person / problem, Beatriz, here portrayed by Salma Hayek, for one hour twenty minutes, establishing her background, her personality, her point of views and especially her attitude towards rich, arrogant, selfish businessman like the character Doug. And then, abruptly, the main character, Beatriz, commits suicide. Really??????? Really????? You just wasted an hour (and more) of my life to come to the conclusion of ‘the bad guy wins’??!!!!! Really???? So to get back to my intro, I have been noticing a new trend of films, which play on the emotions of the spectator all along, from the beginning till the end; and at the last minute of the film, shakes up things towards the opposite of what we were feeling. Through the whole movie we sympathized with Beatriz, we thought she would change the world, up to the point where she commits suicide. REALLY????? Why sympathize with her if the big corporations will crush her? Why waste so much time on her personality if she won’t be able to change anything?? And MOST IMPORTANTLY, why did she feel so hopeless? Many care givers are satisfied by the little amount of care they award to the needed. If her cause was that dear to her, why didn’t she stick around to defend it? Why someone who believes in Jesus and Buddha have so much hatred in themselves and towards others? Why, a person like Doug, influence her when he told her “everyone is dying, animals, humans…”, so she commits suicide at the end? I don’t know why. I tried to answer my own questions.