Customer Reviews

I Am Cuba

5 star:		(36)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I had the pleasure to view this film on wide-screen at the Houston Museum of Fine Arts cinema venue back around 1996 or so. It was utterly breathtaking...and a special treat for me since I also speak Spanish and Russian as foreign languages (I for one, didn't mind the subtle Russian dubbing following the sentences in Spanish & English). I notice most of the reviewers comment on it's role as a "communist propoganda film". Yes, well, the film tries hard to follow the "Socialist Realist" of 'official' Soviet Art, but it (thankfully utterly) fails to do so and slides breathlessly into a "Magical Realist" mode with elements that Soviet critics would have disdained as "metaphysical". Indeed, the remarkable thing is that this film was BANNED in the USSR *and* CUBA shortly after its release. Didn't sit well with the Politburo, etc. The cinematography is wonderful. Yes, it is critical of the Norteamericanos, but the film does not demonize them. Think of the scene w/ the American sailors...I was anticipating a fight and a violent rape...but it doesn't happen. The film could have been much harsher on the US than it was. I may very well buy this film on VHS. I'm happy to see it available for rent at my local Blockbuster's.

I don't know any filmmakers who are not stunned by this visual masterpiece. The hand held shot that traverses a hotel in decadent, pre-Castro Cuba is the stuff of legend- a long moving camera shot that floats through space as if suspended by magic. And this was before the steady-cam was invented. The opening aerials shot with infrared film alone justify this film's 5 star rating. You don't have to take the politics seriously to admire the fluid camera work and unique aural-visual style of this little seen master work.

...judging by the simple-minded dismissive tone of some of the reviewers on this page.

When you say you know nothing about Cuba's history, and then dismiss "I Am Cuba" as propaganda, you are displaying both your own ignorance and the success of the American propaganda machine in conditioning Americans to accept simplistic answers to complex questions.

"I Am Cuba" is a beautiful film, and makes no attempt to portray itself as even-handed. The assumption is that we already know what the white Cuban elite wants us to know. This is explicitly the story of those the elite would prefer to pretend do not exist.

Having lived overseas, I'm sorry to say the grotesque images of American businessmen and the arrogant debauchery of sailors on leave in a 3rd World country are depressingly accurate, especially for the time depicted. And exactly whom do we think is fueling the international child sex trade today, if not wealthy Americans "on vacation"?

Cuba and the USA have a long and tortured history. Cuba's white elite sought to atrtach Cuba to the US prior to our Civil War, so as to perpetuate slavery on their sugar plantations. That same elite allowed the US to assume control over Cuba after the Spanish-American War, when the Platt Ammendment gave the US government extraordinary control over Cuba's internal politics as well as foriegn policy. No good could come of all those "coloreds" having democracy, certainly not a few nautical miles away from our "coloreds"! Later, we changed our minds: the problem with the poor isn't that they're black, it's that they're Communist sympathizers. We trained Batista, kept him in power, and with American corporate investment Cuba became essentially a sick amalgam of plantation and whore-house, with a monsterous gap between the mainly white elite and the rest of the population.

The one "sympathetic" businessman debauches the young taxi-dancer, and then wants to buy her one treasured posession. A clear if obvious metaphor for the "good intentions" of Americans who are as oblivious to the realities of the world as that guy was on his way to her shack. On the way out, it's a lot clearer.

Cuba is a flawed country today, but one where everyone has access to education and healthcare, two issues raised specifically in "I Am Cuba". Whatever happens in the future, it is difficult to imagine the disgruntled elites camped out in Miami being welcomed back to their nightclubs and haciendas any time soon. "I AM Cuba" makes a simple point: the Cuban exiles in Miami are NOT Cuba; in the truest sense, they never really were, and they certainly never will be again.

Understand this: I am fanatical about this movie. But Image's DVD transfer is so painfully inept to watch -- horrid print, spots and speckles, strobing due to oddball frame rate, hideous contrast levels -- that I couldn't bear to watch the DVD beyond 10 minutes.

The person responsible for such an incompetent and abysmal edition of this can't miss movie should be flayed alive in front of all true lovers of cinema. Image, which chopped 10 minutes out of JULIET OF THE SPIRITS despite the representations of the packaging, is the Good Times Video of DVD. That they would do such a worthless job for a Fellini film is cause for anger. That they would due this again to Kalazotov is sacrilegous.

I was a twenty-something and living in La Habana when this film was made. It did not do good business in La Habana or anywhere else on the island because we knew it to be a lie. As a joke we referred to it as "I AM Not Cuba" (although we never dared to joke publicly). I remember it was even a source of embarassment to some of my school friends who had joined the party for advancement and worked at the Ministry of Education, assigned to promote the film.

Having said this, I want to state that the picture is certainly a marvel of cinematography and direction. It is genuinely beautiful and graceful cinema. If you do not mind that it is all one big lie, (and I suspect that most who will see it, don't mind one bit) it will be of much enjoyment. Is beauty still beautiful when at the service of evil? Apparently yes.

For those who enjoy world cinema and Soviet cinema in particular, I can also recommend SHADOWS OF FORGOTTEN ANCESTORS by the great Sergei Paradjanov. Coincidentally made around the same time, poor Paradjanov was even still more beautiful but did not lie. He was sentenced to prison and served hard labor as a consequence.

A fantastic revival. This film is both a study in propaganda and a lesson in visual mastery. A Soviet view of issues confronting Cuba's people before and during the revolution. All Black and White and full of breathtaking, tense, brooding, and lyrical scenes "I Am Cuba" does suprising justice to a country that begs for color film. The opening sequence will astound you. My only regret is that the Cuban Spanish originally spoken was poorly overdubbed into Russian, which is then subtitled to English. In all a must see.

La película "Soy Cuba" es un drama en negro y blanco que es muy fuerte y me produjo un gran impacto. El director de "Soy Cuba" (1964) es Mikheil Kalatozov, un Ruso famoso. El hizo muchas película, pero los dramas muy popular son "Salt of Svanetia" (1930) y "The Nail in the Boot" (1932). En 1995, "Soy Cuba" fue restrenada por Francis Ford Coppola. La película es en tres lenguas- inglés, español, y ruso. Las estrellas son Sergio Corrieri, Salvador Wood, José Gallardo, Raul Garcia, y Luz María Collazo. "Soy Cuba" tiene que ver con la colaboración rusa y cubana y lleva atención a la injusticia y opresión en cuba. Por la película, uno quede ver que para un grupo de gente (los hombres de negocios, los ricos) las cosas van bien, pero para otro grupo de gente (los pobres, campesinos) las cosas no van bien. "Soy Cuba" muestra partes de la revolución cubana en cuatro partes. Los cuatro episodios en "Soy Cuba" toman lugar en La Habana y el campo. El primero episodio toma lugar en La Habana. Hay hombres de negocios que hablan inglés y cubanas prostitutas. Hay una mujer, María-Betty, que está viviendo dos vidas. María tiene un novio que se llama René que es vendor de frutas. Por otro lado, Betty es una prostituta. María-Betty sirve para representar Cuba y las relaciones divididas. El segundo episodio toma lugar en el campo y tiene que ver con los compesinos y United Fruit. En este episodio, las cosecha es quemada. En el campo, uno puede ver un estilo de vida muy diferente de la vida en la Habana. He tecer episodio toma lugar en la Habana otra vez. Tiene que ver con Enrique, un estudiante que quería matar a jefe de la policía pero no podía porque el jefe estaban con sus niños. El jefe de la policía mató a Enrique en el fin. En este episodio también hay una mujer que se llama Gloria y algunos marineros estado unidos. El cuaro episodio forma parte de la revolución de la guerrilla en el campo otra vez. Uno puede ver un lado, La Habana de Batista, y también la pobreza y opresión de la gente de Cuba. También, hay mucha naturaleza (como el cielo y el mar) que tiene un espacio central en la película. Cuba es su gente y también es la tierra. Cuba incluye los campesinos, estudiantes, prostitutas, extranjeros de los Estados Unidos, el gobierno, hombres de negocios, marineros, los rebeldes, los dueños de tierra, los niños, los trabajadores urbanos, y la policía cubana. Esta película muestra bien la injusticia y opresión en Cuba antes y durante la revolución, una parte muy importante de la historía. "Soy Cuba" es una película muy conmevedor a que merece la pena verla.

The film examines the ways the American-backed regime under Bautista affected individual Cubans. The oppressors here are the United Fruit Company, the men of the US Navy, American backed industrialists and military strongmen. The victims are tenant farmer families, poor women and men, as well as young revolutionary students. Instead of analyzing political situations, the film seeks to provide some very emotional human-interest stories. What makes Cuba special, the film suggests, is the ordinary common man and woman who face adversity with courage, hope, desperation and endurance. This is the essence of a people's revolution.

The film is shot in the starkest of Black and White. It's absolutely some of the best cinematography I have ever seen. Of course it is melodramatic, that's what makes it work as propaganda...But the sense and skill of the director elevates this propaganda to the realm of art...This documentary presents images of decadence, insensitivity and callousness. It's 2 hours and 20 minutes of amazingly moving and powerful filmmaking.

This is a four part movie based in Cuba. It begins with the very poor who are only trying to get by. They don't pay much attention to governmental affairs. This vignette is about a prostitute and a fruit seller and their relationship.
From there we move onto a man who is looking ahead with his life because he has two children. He is a farmer and he comes upon hard times. He goes and takes out a loan against his farm and works extra hard. He still looks to the future and we watch his sugarcane crop grow, but it is not to be.
The next vignette brings us the political atmosphere. The government is run by Batista. There is also an undercurrent of a revolution stirring headed by Castro. This vignette demonstrates the power struggle within Cuba.
The final vignette circles back to the poor, but these people know more about the political struggle. They chose to live far away from the fighting so they can be in peace. They live in the mountains and they think that they are safe from the fighting until their peace is interrupted.
This is a very political movie. As you are watching it you feel like there is no hope, that the poor will never better themselves, but as you near the end of the movie, you know that there is hope. The director circles back to another family and even though they are not rich, they do have knowledge and they are living their own lives and making their own choices.

Mikheil Kalatozishvili's 1962 film "Soy Cuba", is an extraordinary film with a unique way of delivery. "Soy Cuba" basically involves a few stories thrown together creating one film. Yet there seems to be a nice flow, because all the stories can be pulled together in one main thought; "the truth of the Cuban Revolution".
The film includes four unique stories: a Cuban woman (Maria-Betty) is forced into prostitution and mistreated by her client (mostly American); a Cuban farmer is crushed after told to leave his sugar-cane fields, by the landowner; pro-Castro University students fight the police, causing tension; and the home of a family living in the hills, gets bombed, causing much anger, revenge and tragedy. The film describes how Cuba is not just a place or piece of land. Cuba is all the poor people living there, all their sweat, blood, and tears are in the land; they are Cuba.
Kalatozishvili brings out these main occurrences from the Cuba Revolution and creates a realistic film based on poverty, the willingness of people, and the difference between right and wrong. It seems so realistic by the way the cameras are set up to enhance the way the film is viewed by the audience. It's as if Kalatozishvili has made you a part of the film itself and you are there with the characters; feeling their pain, suffering, frustration, and anger. Similar to "Soy Cuba", is Steven Spielberg's 1993 film "Schindler's list". Both these movies display the pain and suffering of "the people" and their aspect of life.
One aspect of the movie that becomes annoying is the combination of Russian and Spanish translations throughout the film. Other than that, "Soy Cuba" is a great depiction of the truth in the people during the "Cuban Revolution" and is a film that should be viewed by all people 16 years or older.