Cuban Film Shows Raw Side of Life in Havana

yahoo.comnews ^ | July 29, 2003 | Anthony Boadle

[Cincinatus' Wife]

HAVANA (Reuters) - The characters eat black beans and rice in silence, bathe with buckets and cycle miles to work against a backdrop of the crumbling beauty of their city.

A 79-year-old woman sells peanuts to make ends meet. A hospital employee becomes a transvestite cabaret dancer by night, a doctor doubles as a clown after work and a railway repairman plays the sax in an Adventist chapel.

"Suite Habana" documents a day in the life of a dozen Cubans who struggle with the harsher side of life in revolutionary Cuba. The adults don't smile or utter a single word throughout the 80-minute film.

The melancholy documentary directed by Cuban filmmaker Fernando Perez -- a rapid sequence of images, sounds and music -- is the talk of the town this summer in Havana.

The film has packed the city's Charles Chaplin theater for five weeks, drawing tears and standing ovations from audiences stunned by the frank portrayal of their day-to-day lives.

"It shows the reality of my country that is never seen on television. It's a very raw look at difficulties that exist," said university lecturer Oscar Gomez as he left the theater.

Some Cubans were surprised President Fidel Castro's government allowed exhibition of a film that focuses on the daily grind of life under tropical socialism.

While criticism of the island's one-party political system is not permitted, Cuba has tolerated films that satirize bureaucracy such as "Guantanamera," "Alice in Wonder Village" and "Death of a Bureaucrat." "Strawberry and Chocolate," which criticizes discrimination against gays, was in 1995 the first Cuban film to receive an Oscar nomination for best foreign film.

The public debate over "Suite Habana" was no less surprising given the country's media are controlled by the state.

Ruling Communist Party newspaper Granma praised it as "one of the most important films in the history of Cuban cinema."

The workers weekly Trabajadores said Perez' images "speak of the daily feat of existence, of how one can live in poverty without losing dignity or renouncing one's dreams."

The official view is that the film accurately portrays the stoicism with which "habaneros" put up with social hardships that the government blames on four decades of "economic blockade" by its archenemy the United States.

FEW SMILES, REAL LIVES

In his sermon on a recent Sunday, a Catholic priest urged his parishioners to go and see "Suite Habana" for its "eloquent and revealing images of daily life in Cuba today."

The only character who smiles in the film and appears to live a carefree normal life is Francisquito, a 10-year-old boy with Down Syndrome.

The only appetizing food shown in "Suite Habana" is in meals made with hygienic care by an airline catering firm for passengers on planes that few Cubans get to travel on.

Jorge Luis, 42, cries with his family in a searing airport scene as he departs his homeland and boards a charter flight for a new life in Miami, where most Cuban exiles live.

"This film touches us so deeply because it represents Cuban reality, the love between Cubans and the constant drama of separation," said Carlos, a museum employee. "It is difficult to dream in Cuba, but nobody can take dreaming away. The message of the film is that one should never give up one's dream."

The director stressed he had total freedom to make "Suite Habana" and has not had a single complaint from the government.

"Eighty percent of Havana lives like this. Many bathe with a bucket, with no running water. I did it for eight years," said Perez, son of a postman who dreamed of being an astrologer.

The filmmaker earns 400 pesos a month, equal to $15, from the state cinema agency and got a bonus in dollars during filming with Spanish producing company Wanda that funded the production and holds the international rights.

"Suite Habana" will be shown abroad first in Spain, at the San Sebastian film festival in September, and then in France, Austria and Switzerland.

"It is not a film of smiles. The characters are real people who act out their lives that are full of difficulties, but they are characters that dream," Perez said.

The documentary returns again and again to a statue of John Lennon sitting on a Havana park bench honoring the Beatle who wrote "You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one."

During a tropical downpour, the camera focuses on Lennon's soaking glasses. "He seemed to be crying," one film-goer said.

The film ends listing each character's dream. The peanut lady, Amanda, says she has no dreams left.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

The filmmaker earns 400 pesos a month, equal to $15, from the state cinema agency and got a bonus in dollars during filming with Spanish producing company Wanda that funded the production and holds the international rights.

I wonder what cut of the profits go to Fidel Castro.

People walk on a street lined with crumbling buildings in downtown Havana, July 28, 2003. A movie called 'Suite Habana,' made by Cuban film-maker Fernando Perez, documents a day in the life of Cubans who struggle with the harsher side of life in revolutionary Cuba. (Rafael Perez/Reuters)

Cuban street artists on stilts walk into a building as a woman stands nearby in downtown Havana, July 9, 2003. A movie called 'Suite Habana', made by Cuban film-maker Fernando Perez, documents a day in the life of Cubans who struggle with the harsher side of life in revolutionary Cuba. The movie is said to speak of the daily feat of existence, of how one can live in poverty without losing dignity or renouncing one's dreams. REUTERS/Claudia Daut/FOR STORY CUBA-FILM

[Miss Marple]

Paul Harvey read this story yesterday on his noon program.

I personally wish they would show this film in Hollywood.

[Malesherbes]

One of the great crimes of American liberalism is its adoration of Fidel Castro ("Dr. Castro" per the New York Times.) The reign of this monster has been justified by Cuba's "high literacy and free health care." This means literate to read only Marxist propaganda and health care that no American liberal would willing choose for himself.

[sgtbono2002]

The Cubans rose up in a revolution and placed Castro in charge. Where has that courage for revolution gone? At one time I would have said we should help, that was before we lifted the yoke of Saddam Hussein off the shoulders of Iraq and get kicked in the teeth for it every day. If these people dont like Castro, let them remove Castro. Why should the US go there get soldiers killed and then have the citizens turn on us?

[Texas_Dawg]

Why should the US go there get soldiers killed and then have the citizens turn on us?

You obviously don't know very much about Cuba.

[singletrack]

Remember the Bay of Pigs? The Soviet empire fell without a shot, this will too. Or they can keep bathing in buckets for all I care..Iraq taught me a lesson too.

[Tribune7]

that was before we lifted the yoke of Saddam Hussein off the shoulders of Iraq and get kicked in the teeth for it every day.

I've been reading lots of articles saying we are very much appreciated in Iraq by the average citizens and their leaders.

[Texas_Dawg]

Remember the Bay of Pigs? The Soviet empire fell without a shot, this will too. Or they can keep bathing in buckets for all I care..Iraq taught me a lesson too.

I'm not arguing that the U.S. needs to militarily intervene in Cuba. I don't know anyone who is. My only point was that if someone thinks Iraq and Cuba are even remotely similar or that Cubans would respond the same way as a very small percentage of Baathist Iraqis have, then that person just isn't very bright and defintely knows nothing about Cuba and Cubans.

[verity]

a doctor doubles as a clown after work

What's the big deal? The US has clowns doubling as Democrat Presidential candidates!

[sgtbono2002]

You are right I dont know much about Cubans. I cant see why a country that rose up against Batista, hasnt the courage to rise up against Castro. Was the standard of living under Batista as bad as it is under Castro? I submit it wasnt.

[Puppage]

Nothing says communism like a good Cuban

[Tom Bombadil]

Iraq taught me a lesson too.

Just curious as to what that lesson is.

It seems to me that the Iraq thing is still playing itself out. If you believe Time magazine it might seem like a failure........But in fact, the Iraqi people are afraid that the U.S. may leave prematurely and give Iraq back to the thugs who have been running it.

Once the thugs in Cuba are gone, the Cuban people are going to go banannas making sure that they don't come back.

[Texas_Dawg]

I cant see why a country that rose up against Batista, hasnt the courage to rise up against Castro.

A couple things: 1) The "country" did not rise up against him. Some very intelligent thugs were able to rally enough people to overthrow a very weak, poorly-run government. And this was 50 years ago when many poor Cubans had no idea what Communism was other than that it sounded nice. They no better now and Castro has had to imprison and execute thousands that were once considered from his main support areas (i.e. the Afro-Cubans).

2) The Batista government that Castro overthrew was not nearly as tyrannical as his and therefore not willing to execute and imprison innocent people in order to keep an iron fist rule on the country.

Was the standard of living under Batista as bad as it is under Castro?

No.

[MattinNJ]

Was the standard of living under Batista as bad as it is under Castro? I submit it wasnt

No. My in-laws escaped from there in '62 when they were in their young 20's. Havana was beautiful. They called it "Paris on the Carribean." Today, Cuba is much different. For example, Havana is crawling with prostitutes. In the 50's girls were not allowed to go on dates unless their father or brother came along as a chaperone.

The Cubans did rise up. They were promised air cover by Kennedy who supplied a carrier. Che and Fidel were pissing in their pants and would not commit their troops against the uprising until it became quite clear that Kennedy had backstabbed the insurgents. They were slaughtered. There was a very poignant thread a while ago about how the Admiral on the carrier literally cried and begged for "Just one plane Mr. President".

The only one who has been able to kick out the communists in street to street fighting has been Franco. His reward-constant bashing by the liberals and those who are ignorant of the hell Stalin unleashed in Spain.

There was a Franco in Cuba-he was shot somewhere in the swamps.

[Texas_Dawg]

Today, Cuba is much different.

I was all over the country in early April '03. Cuba makes the worst parts of Mexico I've seen look like Heaven.

[MattinNJ]

Ironic, because Cuba used to be heaven on earth from what I have heard.

[Semper Paratus]

"Socialismo es Muerte"

[Ciexyz]

Maybe the Cuban people have to wait for Castro to die for things to get better.

[DTA]

>>>>>>The official view is that the film accurately portrays the stoicism with which "habaneros" put up with social hardships that the government blames on four decades of "economic blockade" by its archenemy the United States<<<<

Surprisingly, there is a truth in this. Uncle Sam is directly propping up Castro with the ecconomic blockade. If there were no sanctions, if Juan working in Goodwrench was making $2 per hour and Jose working for Castro $15 a month, Castro's regime would topple like a deck of cards.

Cubans are prisoners of both Castro and The United States.

[gedeon3]

I will have a 3 day party when the sob castro makes his trip to hell.