Film Reviews

I Am Cuba (Soy Cuba)

• Rating:
• Director: Mikhail Kalatozov
• Starring: Jose Gallardo
• Details: Cuba / 141mins (PG).

Ah, blatant communist propaganda - there's nothing like it, is there? Russian Mikhail Kalatozov charts the rise of the Cuban Revolution with the help of a script written by his fellow countryman and poet Yevgeni Yevtushenko in this 1964 film. But it's not the political motives behind the film that were so radical at the time, it's the artistic delivery that's the standout; and we can see why Coppola and Scorsese have committed to rescuing it from obscurity. Four stories document the need for revolution: Maria (Collazo), a Havana prostitute, is mistreated by her client; Pedro (Gallardo), an ageing farmer, thrown off his sugar cane field by a greedy landowner; a student battles with bullish police on the streets, and a family of peasants are forced to flee when Batista and his army bomb the surrounding hills. Every cinematographer worth his salt has studied I Am Cuba (Soy Cuba) in depth and some even cut and pasted shots from it right into their own films (Pulp Fiction, Out Of Sight and Boogie Nights are just a few who have this film to thank).Pointing out set design, costumes and camerawork are roundabout ways of saying that the film is bad, but with I Am Cuba, cinematography becomes the real standout because the plot is redundant. There are some films you can watch with the sound down just to appreciate the movement of the camera - and this is one of them

Review by Gavin Burke