Bereamic Awesome Movie

Fatma Suarez The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Ella-May O'Brien Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

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

minty1364 I am not from Ecuador, so cannot speak about its history, country or people, but I can tell you about this film and (US) films and programmes in general. If you want to a story and to get a feel of what happened to the Chase family, then it's worth the watch. This is a dramatisation of a story that actually happened, it will not be completely accurate if you want accuracy, but you get a good sense of what happened.Sandra Chase was in a prison and if you know anything about prisons, most prisons are not pleasant places to be in no MATTER what country they are in. All prisons have their own rules. The warden and guards rules and then the prisoners' rules. I don't think she was in a minimum security prison either. She was not in the West as well and it was in the 1990s, where South American countries were seriously trying to reform the judicial system. So prisons were probably no bed of roses. Prisons are not supposed to be holiday camps after all. I wrote a whole long list of programmes and films to explain this going back to Birth of a Nation (1915) to World Trade Center (2006) as examples of how film makers manipulated things and many films in between (this information was removed as it may have contained spoilers and makes this review even longer); but basically stories can be added to or characters added for dramatic effect and even changed; even though historians, focus groups, action groups, individuals and more object to the unrealistic portrayals. This has always been done and always will be done most likely, by American TV & film makers as well as others. As for things like the prison scenes, they were tame in my opinion from most other film and TV shows. So, back to the story, here is where a previous poster did no one any favours by not watching the film till the end. Some of it addressing what was said in another review. At the end of the film are two important pieces of information including a history changing one which is probably why this film was made in the first place! One shows you exactly what the film has done with one of the actors (and the real people), if you look out for it, dramatic licence used in this case and another about an important fact. But the film makers are not there to tell the finer details, they are there to tell a story! If you want a true pure film and story, you best never watch a film or TV series again (as they will all have things added or taken away), unless it's a history programme, documentary or the news. This film told a story and you get to see it. It's a drama after all and if nothing else, it should teach everyone, to really know who they are travelling with and always keep an eye on your luggage! I suggest you watch the film for yourself and, to the end, and then make up your own mind!

TheBlueHairedLawyer I've been to places like Ecuador, Puerto Rico, etc. and they are not what is shown in this movie. This movie, while presenting an entertaining and compelling story, portrays the people in the country of Ecuador to be mainly sleazy thieves who lie, cheat and steal. In truth, yes there are people like that in the country, but there are people like that in the States and Canada too, most people there are as nice as anyone here, and by trying to dramatize the film I think this was forgotten. This is based on a true story, but I think it was twisted around a bit to get the ratings of viewers. I am also quite surprised that they would make a movie like this just because a US citizen went through the jail system. It's jail, what, were they expecting jail to have flowers and free stuff everywhere? Of course it's going to seem inhumane, it's a jail, a punishment facility, not a daycare center! While I'm on the subject, how come we make a film about a US woman suffering in an Ecuadorian jail? What's so special about her? What about the harsh treatment immigrants coming to the US get all the time? What makes this woman so special? The acting wasn't very good either, the daughter of the woman was very boring and kind of a ditz.

gamay9 I am a divorced white male who can cook very well,like classical music, play the piano fairly well and am not an anti femi-nazi (ala Rush Limbaugh).This film was engaging, especially since it was based upon a true story. Sandra Chase was the name of the lead character (portrayed by Barbara Hershey) in this film and, also, an X-rated film, 'Insatiable,' starring Marilyn Chambers. I prefer the latter.Sandra explains to a nun that 'perhaps I am not a good person.' Perhaps she is just a person who cannot stand growing old. She ties up with a much younger, virile looking guy who speaks Spanish and takes off with him to Ecuador, hardly knowing him. The son and daughter think it's 'cool.' I knew a woman just like that, but she was only six months older than me. She wanted a pre-nup because her late husband left her with a $500K insurance policy and she didn't want to share the money with myself or her children, so I left her. Then, as she grew older, she felt lonely and married a much younger man who took her money. 'Vanity' is one of the seven capital sins and will come back to haunt one, although Sandra didn't deserve quite that much grief. Another reviewer, from Ecuador, stresses that the country is not as portrayed in the film. I believe her. No wonder other countries dislike the U.S.Maybe, Sandra was right when she said '...perhaps I am not a good person.'

wizartd This movie depicts the true 1997 story of the anti-American injustices and backwards legal system experienced by 53 yr old "Anti-Drug" Sandra Chase (played by Barbara Hershey), who was held without trial or due process for nearly two years even while terminally ill in an Equadoran Prison (in Quito). Although claiming complete innocence, In real life, Sandra Chase (one of many) experienced beatings by other inmates, deplorable inhuman stench conditions, where prisoners are forced to defecate in the hallways (no toilets in overcrowded small cemented cells), where prison guards who take bribes and payoffs repeatedly brutally rape, beat and mentally abuse American prisoners. To make matters worse, Sandra Chase was denied medical treatment for her scelroderma, a fatal rare disease that attacks the skin and organs and was eventually thrown into a dungeon like atmosphere without food or clean water for 5 days, and when fed, barely surviving on chicken parts and vegetables (not depicted in the movie). "My bible was the only thing they didn't steal," Chase said, "That's the only thing that kept me going".There are scores of other Americans being held in Ecuadoran prisons. Since Rep. Brown's intervention, over 800 prisoners have been released and more than 2,000 are slated to be set free. Still, the backlog of cases creates a system where the innocent are punished more harshly than the guilty and families are incarcerated for a crime of one member. A Typical Situation, Rep. Brown said the Chase case is typical of many of the estimated 58 Americans being kept in deplorable conditions in Ecuadorian prisons.After watching the movie, I became outraged that so much bias and anti-American prejudice actually exists in such barbaric conditions by the Equadoran unjust and backwards legal system, not to mention, the high degree of danger of possible false arrest during your stay, for anything that would warrant an excuse to throw innocent U.S. victims into hellish prison conditions. Even if guilty, the punishment of such inhuman conditions hardly fits the crime, where you will be instantly treated as guilty before having any chance of proved innocent. To make matters worse, never knowing how many years before you even get a trial (with the possibilities of ending up with one of their non English, Spanish speaking lawyers}, You'll never know! Question I'm asking myself is, How many Americans or non So. American citizens have died in this countries stench overcrowded prisons? I gave this movie 10 out of 10 for it's descriptive warning like effect as a "Wake Up Call" for those who may have otherwise felt safe traveling abroad in drug trafficking 3rd world countries. No spoilers for the movie were used, other than my brief explanation of the true events. Point being, before traveling anywhere outside the U.S., It would be very wise to educate yourselves before leaving U.S. American soil and know what you are truly up against. Why take chances!