The Elian Gonzalez  Story:  A movie

"A movie?  Already?"  you  ask. Yes indeed;   it's true. We just finished watching a Fox Family presentation entitled The Elian Gonzalez  Story. And the only  reason we sat  through the entire production was so that we could accurately report on just how awful  it really was.

At first blush,  when Juan Gonzalez  was portrayed  snapping at his second wife, we assumed that the movie intended  to favor the Miami family views.  Since we always leaned toward believing Juan Miguel, we buckled up, ready to be outraged. But moments later they showed  Juan nostalgically, dramatically following his son with his eyes,  perhaps with a bit of intuition that it   he would not see him for half a year (yeah, right).

The movie continued  this way,  refusing to take sides, showing one point of view, then  another. It also seemed to have  haphazardly collected   its  facts  from  so many sources  that  the  result was an utter  hodgepodge. Before you get incensed,  and think the producers noble for being objective, consider these absurd  differences:

At one point we see Castro kindly telling Juan  Miguel that no matter which choice  he made, to have Elian stay in the US or return to Cuba, Castro would be behind him 100%.  OK, now, even pro-reunion folks like us don't buy that one.

A few  scenes later we see a  flashback where Elian was literally pushed to shore by God-sent dolphins who rescued him from a circling shark. 

So  which  is it?  Were Juan and Castro loving  heroes or did God rescue Elian with the intent to keep him in the USA? The movie never decides. And   yes, that  happens sometimes in real life, but it sure doesn't make for good drama.  In any event, this was a heated and emotional case with nearly everyone on the planet taking a side. A movie that had done the same would have won the devotion of   those who agreed,  the outrage of those who didn't. Both those emotions are   far preferable to apathy and boredom, don't you  think? 

Even the  drowning and raid scenes were so devoid  of  drama   that they left us yawning. We did laugh once, though, when the character playing Marisleysis pronounced  that she had a "God given" right  to see Elian after he was returned to his father. I guess one chuckle can make  it all worthwhile, but you've been  warned.

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