La vida es silbar

Reading the other comments on the page and seeing the movie, I enjoyed Life is to Whistle. I saw use of the different words, like "sex" when the girl fainted, meant to be like people weren't using the words in the same way and they weren't using freedom in an everyday sense. When things are forbidden, the characters had a psychological reaction and thus they responded with reflexive actions like fainting or yawning. I think this was the director's commentary. I enjoyed how the three people were represented from the time they were children and how, as they grew up, they had their own separate lives that went on. Julia dedicated herself to being a caregiver, forgetting about herself and her own needs. When Julia brought in her daughter and left her at the orphanage, Elpidio was there and he accepted her as a little sister. Growing up not talking, she would whistle instead. The dancer Mariana wanted a part so badly that she vowed celibacy to God if he gave her a certain part in a dance. This is how she expressed her passion. People in the movie did not use the words "freedom" or "love" and sex was not had because of people's love for each other. People were not used to hearing these words, and it would make them faint when they eventually did. This movie is a typical representation of Cuban cinema because it talks about patriotism and freedom; it shows how poor the country is but that despite the lack of money, they did the best that they could to make their lives their own. There are also undertones of betrayal and how the country betrays its own residents, shown by Elpidio burning the tattoo off of his back. Overall, this movie was not outstanding but it was from the point of view of Latin America and it was speaking to the people of Havana, letting them know that they could have freedom and that "love" and "freedom" need to be brought back into the community.

I liked this movie in general. The things I could not understand made it difficult for me to give a precise judgement at the end. It is, like many Cuban movies, full of life. It shows how people there take life so simple and how they are open to each other. It is a movie about the search for happiness and maybe liberty in Cuba. The society was also criticized. It showed that some people cannot hear the word liberty or honesty! In some parts the borders between reality and fantasy vanish which makes it more interesting like a mysterious taxi driver who knows about the destiny of all the people. He is perhaps the destiny itself personified in a nice person. Each one of the three protagonists live in his or her way and tries to find happiness in his (her) way. I am still asking myself about the meaning of the whistle in this movie! Probably it is a symbol of freedom. This movie is nice and worth seeing but is not one of my big favorites in the Latin American cinema.

A love letter, sincere though not lacking criticisms, from the director to his country. I love the style of this Cuban director whose work I see for the first time though this is not his first one. In it three stories evolve, while a narrator decides the sakes of the characters, with the whistling acting as a trait d'union working as the image of a much wished freedom of expression. Original is the idea of depicting as orphans all the characters, maybe with the intention of suggesting to the world that Cuba starts suffering for lack of affection, because of the isolation she is forced to, by the manouevres of those who believe the capital is more important than the people. And while this image might seem too tender with Cuba, not so is the story of Julia, a woman who faints any time she hears the word "sexo", and of Dr. Fernando who shall show her, causing a comic carnage of passers-by, that a lot are the words which aren't willfully heard on the island. Then there's the story of choices to be done: she is a dancer who has to choose between him, dancing, God, orienting herself amongst a myriad of overridings and troubles. Eventually there's Elpidio, who dreams of a mother by the name of Cuba, has a true declaration of love tattooed on his back, then feels betrayed and has the tattoo burnt. ("Nobody is perfect", he reassures an ugly beggar at the end of the film, attempting to find a consolation statement for both) refusing a possible escape to another place and another love, no matter what. The final meeting of the characters in an unusually deserted Plaza de la Revoluciòn is, like most of the film, a mix of melancholy and hope for a future with more freedom and opportunity.

Even as Cuban films go, LA VIDA ES SILBAR, a festival-circuit darling from Berlin to Havana throughout 1999, is unusual. Not political (great!), not driven by a single plot, and exploring themes such as religion and mysticism, the film deals with present-day Cuban life for the lucky few in the intellectual artistic milieu. Having said that, situations confronting this segment of Cuba's population are realistically portrayed and again without an obvious political agenda. The movie inspires a spirit of hope (very needed to survive in Cuba) through a budget production which is in itself a statement of Cuba's film industry and indeed its economy. Though the film is not really accessible to most viewers, even among the "arthouse" crowd, I would definitely recommend it to Latin American film buffs well versed in Cuban cinema.

It's all about Cuban fate and how it will bring our three protagonist together. A poetic and surreal piece that lends itself to comedy and melodrama! Perez's directorial influence may have derived from the films of Elisio Subiela and Alexandro Jodorowsky. There are also hints of Fellini with the occasional background sound of that dreamy kind of wind scattering about in our subconscious.