I Am Cuba (1964)

Such a frustrating disappointment

Absolutely the worst movie.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

What an amazing film! Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola sponsored it's resurrection. While certainly overall a communist propaganda film, it goes way beyond it, to be a very modern film.Directed by Soviet filmmaker Mikhail Kalatozov it is a masterpiece of black and white filmmaking. The use of amazing black and white filtration, ultraviolet filmmaking, spectacular storytelling and absolutely stunning tracking shots, is simply first class filmmaking. Kalatosov unfortunately would not have been considered for an Academy Award in the world of Cold War 1960s, , but the film is certainly worthy of one. A very modern story, with the sets using 1963 Havana, before the rot set in, makes it feel like any modern city. The story, could be taken from Viet Nam, Egypt 2011, Nicaragua 1984,or wherever a corrupt dictatorship, sponsored by western corporate support, is running roughshod over people just trying to live their lives. The film "Even the Rain" is similar to this in general idea. If you are into film, you really ought to see this film, regardless of your politics. Check out the fabulous trailer for it. I don't give it a 10, because it's storyline is bit dated and stilted, but still, the script is much more modern than many films of it's day. I suppose that given that the Manchurian Candidate was produced in this era, that it's right up there with that kind of film from the US.

Thank you reviewer NIKITIN for bringing some balance to the body of reviews. Soy Cuba's themes are indeed more important than the flashy technique, dazzling as it is. Of course, it's hard not to be overwhelmed by the innovative camera work. And ironically this was at a time when Americans were told that Soviet cinema was nothing more than variations on the stodgy 'boy meets tractor'. Whatever the truth of this-- since their movies were never shown over here-- Soy Cuba shows the spirit of Eisenstein was still alive in some quarters of that huge nation.Actually, the movie could have been much more critical of US policy than it was. For example, the first vignette could have shown that Meyer Lansky and the mob were actually running the casinos and prostitution of Havana—one reason the mob conspired with the CIA to kill Castro. In fact, Cuba under Batista was sometimes called 'America's sewer'. Thus, the movie's revolutionary message should be celebrated along with the terrific cinematic effects. And had the US wanted a genuinely non-aligned Cuba, we could have started by avoiding the embargo, not invading the island, and foregoing efforts to assassinate its leader. Then the island nation might not have had to go halfway around the world to find allies and a trading partner.Anyway, the movie dramatizes key elements of the popular uprising, each vignette standing for a crucial broader dynamic. On the whole, the movie comes as a startling surprise that shouldn't have taken 40-years for the authorities to allow our public to see.

Co-produced by the USSR, I AM CUBA (1964) is pretty heavy-handed propaganda for Fidel Castro's communist regime, but it is full of innovative camera-work and other artistic merits.The storytelling is effective and the scenes are gritty and real, shot on location throughout Cuba. Director Mikhail Kalatozov's floating camera produces some of the most astonishing tracking shots you'll ever see.Running at nearly two and a half hours, the film is broken up into four segments, each emphasizing a different aspect of Cuba at the time of its political upheaval in the 1950s. The first segment is about the evils of the decadent capitalist lifestyle, the second is about the plight of the poor laborers, the third is about the popular support of the revolutionary ideals (emphasizing the brutality of the current regime), and the fourth focuses on the guerrilla soldiers fighting the good fight for all of Cuba.The imagery is brilliant and the film presents its historical viewpoint with the emotional charge of, say, Eisenstein's BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN (1925). An interesting watch, although I tend to cringe when I see such unflattering portrayals of Americans in foreign films (though it's amusing in a way to see how we're perceived by others). The island of Cuba is beautiful.

The cameras are flying in this remarkable display of cinematic poetry that elevates I Am Cuba's heavy handed and sometimes mawkish propaganda message to an effective and inspiring pedestal. Like Eisenstein's Battleship Potemkin and Riefenstahl's Triumph of the Will it is both visually mesmerizing and immediate to the early glories and heady times of change through revolution before the total onset of the totalitarian dictatorships that followed in each country.The dictatorial and brutal regime of Fulgencio Batista is in it's final days but the exploitation and repression of the Cuban people living amid poverty continues. The somber sultry beauty of the rhythmic isle we float through is suddenly thrashed by the crass noise of sloppy rock and roll poolside amid tall hotels and voluptuous swim suit models. Other interrelated stories feature a woman forced through economics to peddle herself to unctuous American businessmen and along with a student activist fight off a platoon of loutish US servicemen. Outside the city the farmers are also exploited by United Fruit Company and attacked indiscriminately by government planes. The cause is clear for all; they must rise up against the tyranny. This point is gracefully and heroically conveyed from end to end in I am Cuba.Matching their masterful artistry displayed in the powerful and moving The Cranes are Flying, Soviet director Mikhail Kolatozov with cinematographer Sergei Uresevsky blueprint some audacious camera acrobatics. With some of the finest tracking and crane shots I have ever witnessed (the hotel pool scene and the funeral for the student activist are as good as it gets in any film) I could rhapsodize endlessly on its form but I am Cuba's content also offers some fascinating incite to time and viewpoint. The film is anti American Imperialist, Capitalist, Western Influence and Coca Cola with a hint of anti-semitism thrown in but even with this stilted viewpoint I am Cuba remains a powerful and moving document on the struggle against government repression.All leaders of the Twentieth Century understood the power of film and its possibilities to reach, persuade and motivate the masses to their way of thinking. Propaganda is an indispensable tool to all who hold power and film is a perfect delivery system. Democracies (The 49th Parallel, Purple Heart) as well as Dictatorships (see above) and anyone else interested in consolidating and maintaining power would be lost without it. I am Cuba is a magnificent and passionate tract in that vein that clearly does Castro proud but with nuances in ideology would have done the same for Roosevelt Churchill or Robert Mugabe. In the case of I am Cuba it's the singer not the song that shines.