Variety.com

Posted: Tue., Jan. 1, 1991
 
Fires Within

 
Pathe/M-G-M. Director Gillian Armstrong; Producer Wallis Nicita, Lauren Lloyd; Screenplay Cynthia Cidre; Camera David Gribble; Editor Lou Lombardo, John Scott; Music Maurice Jarre; Art Director Robert Ziembicki
 
Greta Scacchi
Jimmy Smits
Vincent D'Onofrio
Brit Hathaway
Luis Avalos
Bertila Damas
 
By VARIETY STAFF

The timely, real-life situation involves an attractive emigre (Greta Scacchi) and her infant daughter (Brit Hathaway), among the 'raft people' who continue to flee Cuba via open ocean on makeshift, floating deathtraps - hoping for landfall in the Florida Keys. They're rescued by a seaman (Vincent D'Onofrio), with whom the woman forms a romantic relationship over the next eight years.

She left a husband behind in Cuba, Jimmy Smits as a writer imprisoned for criticizing the Castro regime. His sudden release and subsequent arrival in Miami as a hero creates a classic romantic triangle against the backdrop of Cuban emigre politics.

Director Gillian Armstrong's attempt to cover all the emotional and political ramifications of Cynthia Cidre's thoughtful tale is, for the most part, dramatically respectable. But it is a cold narrative that never lingers on any situation long enough to generate either suspense or romance.

Scacchi's woman- in-the-middle role is confused at worst, detached at best. Smits, as the husband, garners the film's appeal.
 
(Color) Widescreen. Available on VHS, DVD. Extract of a review from 1991. Running time: 86 MIN.