Havana Noir - Le indagini di Mario Conde

In my country this was broadcast in eight episodes of a bit less than an hour each, where each season in Havana, which equals 1 murder mystery, was split into 2 episodes. The good part: if you (like me) are a fan of Havana's special atmosphere, with its old 50s cars, revolutionary murals, and decaying colonial-era houses, then it'll be worth your while watching the show and you'll enjoy every minute of it. We get beautiful Havana landscapes, amazing drone shots, views of streets and neighborhoods both poor and rich, peeks inside grand houses of yesteryear, some in better condition, some in worse, old telephones, wonderful decor. The colors, the atmosphere are stunning. The people part is also great - we get to see beautiful Cubans all around (and they are very beautiful), along with some less beautiful of course, but that's life. We also get to see most of the beautiful ones having sex, and they make a great sight. Still on the positive side, themes that might once have been taboo in Communist Cuba are freely discussed, including drug use in schools, official corrpution, people escaping to the U.S., past repression of homosexuals, drag queens, parodies of the official ideology ("machismo-leninism" was a good one), etc. The impression was that nothing was off the table, even for this production which is Cuban-Spanish. Now to the weaker spot: the 4 actual police mysteries. Without giving anything away, and without being an expert in police dramas (as it's not my favorite genre), I found their resolution to be very simplistic. At first each murder looks really baffling, with many suspects and no clues, and then at some point towards the end, one of the suspects breaks down as if by magic and tells everything, where they really didn't have to. A bit disingenious, and disappointing. All in all as I said I'd recommend the series for Havana fans, just for its color. To me it was a pleasure to watch and made me want to go back and visit.

I was extremely surprised at the pleasure the show gives. I have never heard of a show that appears to have been made in Cuba. I didn't know much about Cuba but was fascinated with it from an early age. I love the taxis I love the music. I seriously hope they can come up with the elusive spondylous in amounts that will allow them to make further episodes.

This is an outstanding police drama. The characters are complex and multifaceted. Jorge Perugorría's performance is masterful as Mario Conde, a Cuban Harry Bosch-like police investigator, facing his own demons as well as those within the system in which he must work.

But beyond the story and characters, the images of Havana and its people are mesmerizing. You could watch this series of 2-hour dramas just for what seem like paintings on film. At points I paused the film just to look at the color palette of Havana. Simply stunning.

Havana is a beautiful city. I always like to watch the show in the places I have never been to because I feel like I was traveling. Each story is well done. There are many people in each episode, but they are not so confusing. The stories are involved in politics and corruption and it is common all over the world. Their life style I see in the show is nice. The shows describe how they live. Everybody's acting is excellent. Casts look natural and beautiful unlike the TV shows in different countries all plastic surgery type actors and actresses act in and show off modernization.

I really enjoyed this series. It was well acted and had an interesting story line. I felt the nuances of the Cuban culture were well played out. You could feel the constant threat of being watched by Big Brother but at the same time the friendships seemed to help make the day to day living tolerable and at times enjoyable. I hope they do more with this series!