Lista de espera

When I saw this film on a trans Atlantic flight from Madrid to Miami I really enjoyed it a lot. It was great to see in which way Cubans interprete and defend their revolution. > Excellent actuation, excellent director - only the music lacked a little bit. After having seen "Fresa y chocolate" and "Guantanamera" I can only hope for more films by Juan Carlos Tabio.

Cuban film about passengers stranded at a rural bus stop waiting for either a bus to Santiago or a bus to Habana. Alongside a beautiful blue sea in a tropical paradise it is actually a dreary world under Communism. Only in dreams is there Utopia. To believe anything else is false. That's one of the themes here. Another theme is people in a crappy situation making the best of it. Resilience. But there's the one bugger who wants to stick to the party line and ruin it for all. But the citizens get through it with good times, laughter and love. Nice twist at the end brings all this into focus. An ensemble cast without any real standouts -- great direction brings it all together so very nicely. Recommended for fans of foreign cinema not to mention for a glimpse into life in Cuba.

7.0 / 10 stars

--Zoooma, a Kat Pirate Screener

It is a simple movie pleasant and well directed. Fresh air: a collective dream where the characters give the best of themselves.You feel criticism and meanwhile deep hope in potentialities of Cuba society.

I perceived something of Bunuel's films here, but without his cynism. 'Lista de espera' is a naive movie worth to see.

The comedy gives some ideas of the economical problems in Cuba, its objective and subjective difficulties to solve them. The passengers awaiting for a bus, which never comes, got slept and all dream the same thing. In that dream they decided to paint and to restore the terminal, and some couple had time to fall in love. The society is well shown, a young lady trying to go marry a Spanish businessman, a young man dreaming better life, a blind man who is not blind, an egoist and fat man with food stored when the other passengers have nothing to eat, a lady looking for herbs to prepare beverage for everyone, an inmigrant from Canary Islands who loves Cuba as his motherland, a couple with problems (more economical than any other) of living together,a very serious and responsible administrator of the terminal and the extremist who looks only for the directives and not for solving the difficulties. If you want to have a small idea of Cuba you may like to see this film.

If you like romance, humor, and a fresh story, this movie is for you. It deals in a poetic and unexpected way with the day to day difficulties in Cuba. The acting is very convincing, and the plot is full of unexpected twists.

I liked it a lot, and I hope you will.