I Spent this weekend reading a frigging protocol for an upcoming study, 176 pages of pain.
Come Sunday afternoon my brain was fried, so I ran to the nearest BlockBuster and rented the first movie I got my hands in to, literally.
I usually don't rent Andy Garcia movies of my own free will. Is not that the man is not a great actor is just that I once paid $42.00 in late fees for Godfather III, just because my ex-brother in law was obsessed with it and the fact that in his mind, he looked like Andy. (Long story...)
Anyways, I'm glad I got over my usual denial of all things Garcia until I stumble upon them in basic cable...
This one is a jewel. Somehow I feel I have to defend this movie because when I checked it's rating in Rotten Tomatoes this morning I found out is was less than 30%, how could that be? I reached the conclusion that these critics
- Are not Cuban
- Never met a Cuban before
- Believe Che Guevara was a poet who wrote, in nice, free rhyme a colorful epic called Viva la Revolution
The first thing that crosses any one's mind when watching a movie about Cubans in exile, directed by a Cuban is that it will be black and white. All related to Fidel is Evil, including those who support him, USA is the land of the free and the home of those who get to step on dry land... etc, etc.
As soon as I saw Dustin Hoffman playing a likeable, yet shady American businessman with interests tied to Havana's night- life, I knew I was not going to be let down.
The movie romanticises the place, not the time, people involved or the consequences of it all.
Fulgencio Batista is who he was, a dictator whose methods were as extravagant as they were dangerous, each of his actions feeding his megalomania.
Fidel barely has any screen time. One thing that might have bugged the critics is that you hardly see Castro in this movie... the thing is that is nice communist fashion, and quite like Schrodinger's cat, he is everywhere and nowhere. Fidel is the revolution, and I thought that was brilliant.
Ernesto Guevara still is, the brilliant mind that the CIA is forced to picture in it's disdainful dossier, but is also quite an agent of the new Cuban order. He is writing a poem alright, in a very Machiavellian fashion. Che is perhaps, the character that hits the unsuspecting American audience in the head right on. After all, most of the critics, sadly have only The Motorcycle Diaries as a reference.
Front and center is a Cuban Family, three brothers with different views about change, united by their uncompromising love for their father. Unfortunately, I'm quite disappointed to find out that the critics saw this as an ill attempt to summon The Godfather (?). As if the concept of family comes first, were inherently Sicilian...
If this movie was a Greek Tragedy, Bill Murray would be a very cynical chorus. Bringing a bit of comic relief, he plays an American living in Cuba, working (Or pretending to work) the night club scene. His comments are neutral leaning towards aphaty, as coming from one who has nothing of value to hold on to, that couldn't care less. Sometimes, he comes across as cruel, but the that's life, boys and girls.
This is not one of my regular reviews, I will not discuss the morals of the story, but my amazement at how people didn't get it. We are either very blessed, blind or conceited... I don't know.
One thing they all agreed though, is that the music was superb. Shit, you know the soundtrack is amazing when it manages to "sacar el negro que llevas dentro" and that's all I have to say.
Today's quote is a little bit cynical and the thinker is not well known, but it struck me funny then and it strikes me funny now. Ladies and gentlemen, Isriel Zamora, Cuban by birth, Puertorrican by marriage to the incorrigible Michelle once said, referring to the aesthetic, humane value of the mesmerizing Motorcycle Diaries, which we all professed to love "They got THAT right, the man loooved his bikes." I guess all votes in, the Cuban had the right to disagree.
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