Adieu Cuba

Critics all over have trashed this movie on account on its politics, angry at the way García has depicted Che Guevara as the real murderer he was, at the way he has portrayed the profound injustices and oppression of Fidel Castro's regime, at the way it does not conform to the sympathetic view Hollywood has always had about the Cuban Revolution. The movie suffers sometimes from the inexperienced hand of a first-time director, the lack of the epic budget it needed, and the poor acting of Inés Sastre but it is not a bad movie, not at all. It's an extremely entertaining film that uses its modest resources with great care to give us a dignified, sincere, notably balanced and very emotional document of the terrible experience of the Cuban people. Don't believe the extremely biased reviews of The New York Times, The New Yorker, and other media. Go and see it. Music lovers will enjoy a splendid mix of popular and classical Cuban music, and a great original score which will make a nice CD.

I had hoped for better from Andy Garcia. The general idea is a good one: a quick look at the forces motivating the Cuban middle class to flee the island in the late 50's-mostly for the US, shown in terms of the disintegration of one upper-class Cuban family. But the dialogue is utilitarian and not much more, the characters are predictable, and what on earth was Bill Murray doing in it? He seems to be a sort of American clown visible only to Andy Garcia's character, like Harvey the giant rabbit. There are memorable visual moments in it, like the acres of white canopied tobacco plantation, with towering palm trees protruding; or Castro's guerrillas materializing out of the head-high sawgrass to intercept a mounted volunteer, or those great moody night shots along the Havana corniche. But the script is flat. It doesn't amplify the characters, and it barely advances the story. Judging by the comments preceding mine, I guess that my problem is that I'm not of Cuban extraction. I like well-made films, not films that stroke my particular political sensitivities, as this film seems to do for some viewers. THE definitive film about the Cuban revolution and/or the Cuban exodus and diaspora has yet to be made.

One day someone is going to make a decent film about the Cuban revolution, but in the meantime we will have to put up with half-baked efforts like this and Havana.

There is no doubting the earnestness of actor-director Andy Garcia's convictions but what we basically have here is an overlong and rather dull vanity project. Garcia plays Fico, an affluent nightclub owner who finds his family and life slowly disintegrating in the midst of the events leading up to - and consequences of - Fidel Castro's Cuban revolution. Long, deliberately-paced films are usually that way to establish a number of characters in depth and to lure the viewer into investing their sympathy and concern for these characters. But this film seems to take forever to tell us very little about Garcia's Fico or any other members of his family. Garcia looks perpetually miserable and seems to be trying to imitate Al Pacino in the Godfather movies, while the film itself seems to be trying to establish an epic sweep that it completely fails to achieve.

The film looks and sounds terrific, but Garcia isn't a great, or even particularly accomplished director. And what exactly is the purpose of Bill Murray's character? He's supposed to be a writer with an infectious sense of humour but he rarely says anything funny despite the reactions of other characters, and his presence adds nothing to the plot. Similarly, Dustin Hoffman pops in for a couple of meaningless scenes as Meyer Lansky which wouldn't be missed if they were removed.

An excellent movie with a small budget. Andy did a wonderful job on his first attempt. I am sure we will see more of him as a producer. Of course there is room for improvement and I think that if he concentrates in the details of the production without having to act at the same time we will probably see this improvement in his next work.

I liked the music specially the showman that portrayed Benny More. Also the choreography was very good and the dancers where spectacular, in particular the fellow that participated as a solo. The guy playing the trumpet at the beginning and end of the movie was superb.

It gives an overall picture of the history from that period in the island nation and without being documentary it respects the motives and shortcomings of any historical process such as this one.

Thanks Andy for this movie, and keep up the good work.

As an American of Cuban parents, I had always heard the political rhetoric about Cuba as I was growing up. All the while I longed to see this beautiful island which my parents sadly left behind. Though Andy Carcia's film was not filmed in Cuba (it was filmed in the Dominican Republic) it gave me a chance to see a "Cuba" I had only heard about. As for the film itself, the conflicts of family, politics and love in the film is beautifully portrayed to reflect what has been a painful truth to a great number of Cubans. I definitely recommend this to all, Cubans and non-Cubans alike. I hope Mr. Garcia gets due recognition for this beautiful body of work. By the way... Is there an accompanying soundtrack album? The music was phenomenal!