☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
I
am Cuba (1964) – M. Kalatozov
The kind of movie you might see in your
head if you’ve been slipped a mickey and unceremoniously dumped on the beach
outside of Havana. A woozy coproduction between the Soviets and Cuban teams
(directed by Mikhail Kalatozov) that has clear propaganda goals – but which
target of such efforts could make it all the way through? There is no clear
narrative structure and we don’t follow any particular characters for any
length of time. Basically the film moves
from a depiction of Batista era party days with exploitation by crude foreign
interests (prostitution, big bands), to poor sugar farmers losing their
livelihoods to the United Fruit Company, to an uprising by students and
finally, of course, to revolution led by Castro. The whole thing is shot with the kind of
angles and style that were favoured by Orson Welles (after too much Paul
Masson). It’s all too much and therefore worth a look.
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