Adieu Cuba

Watching this film, I am so reminded of Casablanca. Like Rick, Fico Fellove (Andy Garcia) is seemingly oblivious to the oppression and evil that surrounds him, only concerned with running his nightclub. Unlike Rick, Fico never changes and only connects with the enemy to save his brother or his friend.

The movie is just too darn pretty. It presents a Cuba that may be familiar to the upper class and the rich American tourists, and neglects to mention the Cuba that demanded a revolution. This Cuba, one of poor, uneducated peasants that were in virtual slavery on sugar and tobacco plantations and women who sold themselves to tourists, is seen only in Mikhail Kalatozov's Soy Cuba, which will be released in a deluxe edition this month.

The movie worth watching for Garcia's performance and the performances of Dustin Hoffman, Bill Murray, and Elizabeth Peña, as well as some great Afro-Cuban music.

It probably did great box office in Miami.

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.

The music is great, of course, it is Cuba. The costumes are beautiful; so are the women and the men. Worth a look though for it's style and feel of the glamor that was Havana, the physical warmth and affection that lives in Cuban families and it's interesting anti-Castro portrayal of events. It even challenges the hero status of Che Guevara.

But Andy Garcia's tale of a wealthy family coming apart like this lovely island during the Cuban revolution suffers from the self-indulgence that so often weakens the work of writer/director/producer combos. Who is going to say, "Andy, enough of those close-ups of you looking longingly at your lost loves? After about an hour and a half, we sure wish someone would! It leaves me wondering why, with all Cuba has gone through, our government continues to punish Cubans with economic sanctions that do no harm to Castro, but keep the Cubans from thriving from their hard hard work and record breaking high literacy rates.

I think that for those who do not know what happened in Cuba during the revolution, this movie is a great film to watch (no matter what the critics believe). Not only do we learn how it happened, we also learn about the struggles of the Cuban people. As in a work of art, everything in this movie has meaning or significance. The story is real and is expressed with sentiment... a romantic, but also nostalgic feeling. Also, the movie captured many details of the Cuban culture (including family values). Finally, I'd like to add that to watch a movie about Cuba without the glamorizing of the revolution or any of its leaders is like a breath of fresh air. Andy Garcia is a genius!

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.