The Republic interviewed the actresses of the historical drama ‘The Cry of the Butterflies’, which premieres this 8th on Star+.
In times of dictatorship, Minerva Mirabal, a young lawyer and activist, confronts Rafael Leónidas Trujillo, the most powerful man in the Dominican Republic. The series ‘The cry of the butterflies’ tells of the atrocious persecution of the Mirabal sisters and how, decades later, a writer Spanish goes public with the story looking for a survivor.
Goya winner Belén Rueda responds to us via Zoom about her impression of receiving the proposal for this historic production, starring women. “My character (Pilar) wrote a book knowing that the UN was going to establish that day, November 25 (Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women).
When I read the scripts I liked this way of telling it, it presents them as people who have a life apart from their struggle and that they have to reconcile. This barbarism is completely rejectable, but seeing it from the inside you understand much more, including fear. From the outside it is very easy to say: ‘Face’. But if you step out of line, they kill you.”
Bethlehem Wheels. Like Pilar Macias. Photo: diffusion
Susana Abaitua and Rueda comment honestly and “a bit ashamed” that they did not know the history of the sisters Mirabal. They have agreed that the series should be seen in schools. “It is necessary to tell it,” says Abaitua. The actress plays Arantxa Oyamburu, a friend of Minerva (Sandy Hernández). In the capital, she meets the Trujillo family and they offer her to enter show business. “There is something of the panic that he sowed. It was very difficult to say no. There are two women with two points of view. One that stays in the fight with all the vulnerability and all that it takes to stand your ground. And another that, to survive, goes where it has to go, realizes it and starts digging. Her decisions may change.”
When talking about the film and television industry, cases such as that of former Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, sentenced for harassment and abuse, are mentioned. There are still pending changes, the actresses point out. “A year ago I was in a wardrobe test, I had sex scenes and they took photos of me in my underwear to see how I would look.
Then I left the shoot, came back the next day and said, ‘Wait, did you take the same photos of the guy to see how he looks?’ And they told me: ‘No’. ‘Okay, not me then, delete it.’ As soon as I said it, people said: ‘Of course, if we haven’t done it to him, why to you?’ We are all learning.”
For Rueda, the feminist movement has caused the changes. “He #MeToo has done enough. Sometimes silence hurts a lot, but it has a reason for being. When you talk to a battered woman, from outside society they say: ‘Why didn’t you say it before?’ That is the worst thing you can say to him because there are so many variants why he doesn’t say it. and the first is fear. And it’s not just fear for your own life, it’s fear for the people you love.”
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