Soy Cuba (I Am Cuba in spanish) is an interesting movie that is unfortunately very unknown in the western world. This is mainly because it is not from the US, but is in fact a joint production between the Soviet Union and Cuba. Made in the early 60s, the communist government of Fidel Castro was already implemented for some time by this point, and the US cut relations with the country altogether. This meant that Cuban directors had to rely on the much more wealthy Soviet government to obtain funding and equipment for their movies. This movie is a prime example of that, because some parts actually utilize infrared cameras obtained from the russian military. Shooting with this type of camera creates a distinctive look, such as when it shows a sunlit sky that somehow has a dark appearence. Directed by a russian, the movie itself has a strong resemblence to D. W. Griffith's Intolerance, because it involves 4 stories all going on at once. The only difference is they wait until each one is done until they show the next one. The first story is about a girl named Maria who works as a prostitute in a bar, catering to wealthy American businessmen. They're some of the only people in the film who speak english. Maria plans to marry her boyfriend Rene who makes a living selling fruit, but she doesn't tell him about her other life as a prostitute. One day, one of the americans goes to her house and attempts to buy her most sentimental item: a crucifix necklace. Just then, Rene walks in the house and sees his disgraced girlfriend, now aware she is a strumpet. The second story focuses on a farmer who is nearing the end of his life, and knows he will not be around for much longer. He wants his crop of sugar canes to grow very tall, not for him, but for his kids. Shortly afterwards, a few men ride up to his property on horses and tell him the land on which he lives has been sold, and his house doesn't belong to him anymore. He accepts the news, goes back to his kids, and tells them nothing is wrong when they ask him what the talk was about. He then gives his children some money and tells them to go enjoy themselves in the city. Once they leave, he lights his house on fire and commits suicide. The third (and arguably best) story is centered around a college student named Enrique who saves a girl from getting harassed by a bunch of rowdy american sailors on the streets of Havana. Later, he drops by his college to tell his friends that a rumor saying that Fidel Castro is dead is not true. Enrique is tasked with killing an important person from the roof of a hotel using a sniper rifle that has been stashed on the roof beforehand. Upon arriving and grabbing the gun, he looks through its scope to see the target eating breakfast with his children, and Enrique can't pull the trigger on him. He is picked up by one of his friends who gets angry at him for refusing to kill the person. Meanwhile, the cops raid a room full of other college students and find Marxist literature. The students rebel against the police and a riot breaks out, which leads to Enrique getting shot dead by the police after the students profess their love for communism. Finally, the fourth story is about Mariano, a man who lives in a shack in the Cuban mountains and lives a simple life. A soldier pays him a visit and insists he joins the revolution, but he turns him down. Shortly after, the area starts getting bombed by planes and Mariano loses his wife in the chaos, along with his children. Alienated and radicalized by this event, he takes up a rifle and is eager to fight for Castro alongside his socialist brothers. This is a very expansive movie to talk about. It has a lot of parts to it, and is quite long. Still, it is a very important movie because it employed lots of new camera techniques, and most shots in this movie are strange camera angles. As is the sad case with many other good movies, they aren't appreciated in their own time. Audiences back then in Cuba and the USSR didn't like this movie, probably because of its length, but from a historical perspective, it is very crucial. It shows how devoted people in Cuba were to Castro and his government, and Cuba was actually so determined to finish this movie they filmed right through the cuban missile crisis. The movie also has a woman narrator in between the four stories, who is supposed to be the voice of Cuba itself. If you have the time, and want to see a movie made by the USSR, this is for you.
Review of I Am Cuba
