I Am Cuba (1964)
(Soy Cuba)
Country: Cuba/USSR
Technical: bw/1.37:1 141m
Director: Mikhail Kalatozov
Cast: Sergio Corrieri, Salvador Wood, José Gallardo, Raúl García, Luz María Collazo, Jean Bouise
Synopsis:
The passage from pre- to post-revolutionary Cuba is seen from the perspective of the island herself via the stories of four inhabitants: a cocktail bar hostess, a tenant farmer, a student activist and a mountain smallholder. Throughout the common thread is that of poverty exploited, with education the key to a more equal society.
Review:
Sometimes belittled as a piece of Soviet propaganda, Kalatozov's film quickly transcended its agitprop beginnings (shades of Battleship Potemkin haunt the Palace steps sequence) to take its place rightly as one of the cinema's most visually compelling and poetic pleas for humanity. The constantly roving camera cranes and swoops in fluid takes, using an ultra-wide-angled lens to capture the features of the locals in intimate close-up without sacrificing the contextualization of settings. Some of the sequence shots are among the most befuddling pieces of wizardry in the pre-CGI world, of which Antonioni would have been proud, but make no mistake: the technical feats of this astonishing film are always at the service of its ardent cry of freedom, and in that sense it prefigures The Battle of Algiers more than anything else.
(Soy Cuba)
Country: Cuba/USSR
Technical: bw/1.37:1 141m
Director: Mikhail Kalatozov
Cast: Sergio Corrieri, Salvador Wood, José Gallardo, Raúl García, Luz María Collazo, Jean Bouise
Synopsis:
The passage from pre- to post-revolutionary Cuba is seen from the perspective of the island herself via the stories of four inhabitants: a cocktail bar hostess, a tenant farmer, a student activist and a mountain smallholder. Throughout the common thread is that of poverty exploited, with education the key to a more equal society.
Review:
Sometimes belittled as a piece of Soviet propaganda, Kalatozov's film quickly transcended its agitprop beginnings (shades of Battleship Potemkin haunt the Palace steps sequence) to take its place rightly as one of the cinema's most visually compelling and poetic pleas for humanity. The constantly roving camera cranes and swoops in fluid takes, using an ultra-wide-angled lens to capture the features of the locals in intimate close-up without sacrificing the contextualization of settings. Some of the sequence shots are among the most befuddling pieces of wizardry in the pre-CGI world, of which Antonioni would have been proud, but make no mistake: the technical feats of this astonishing film are always at the service of its ardent cry of freedom, and in that sense it prefigures The Battle of Algiers more than anything else.
(Soy Cuba)
Country: Cuba/USSR
Technical: bw/1.37:1 141m
Director: Mikhail Kalatozov
Cast: Sergio Corrieri, Salvador Wood, José Gallardo, Raúl García, Luz María Collazo, Jean Bouise
Synopsis:
The passage from pre- to post-revolutionary Cuba is seen from the perspective of the island herself via the stories of four inhabitants: a cocktail bar hostess, a tenant farmer, a student activist and a mountain smallholder. Throughout the common thread is that of poverty exploited, with education the key to a more equal society.
Review:
Sometimes belittled as a piece of Soviet propaganda, Kalatozov's film quickly transcended its agitprop beginnings (shades of Battleship Potemkin haunt the Palace steps sequence) to take its place rightly as one of the cinema's most visually compelling and poetic pleas for humanity. The constantly roving camera cranes and swoops in fluid takes, using an ultra-wide-angled lens to capture the features of the locals in intimate close-up without sacrificing the contextualization of settings. Some of the sequence shots are among the most befuddling pieces of wizardry in the pre-CGI world, of which Antonioni would have been proud, but make no mistake: the technical feats of this astonishing film are always at the service of its ardent cry of freedom, and in that sense it prefigures The Battle of Algiers more than anything else.