Interesteg What makes it different from others?

SpecialsTarget Disturbing yet enthralling

Brennan Camacho Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

Payno I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

jotix100 The lives of ordinary Cuban citizens living in a poor neighborhood of Havana are examined. The daily struggle for survival of these people caught in one of the poorest countries of the hemisphere takes center stage in Humberto Solas' ambitious tale of life in contemporary Cuba. In fact, one wonders how could the director get away with some of his critical views of what is really happening. Like Fernando Perez's in "Suite Havana", this film takes a hard look at what it is like to live in today's Cuba.The film starts as a woman is taking a bath using a can to rinse herself. This neighborhood of Havana obviously lacks running water. The feeling of the place is much like a 'favela', or marginal slum, devoid of any material comforts. The one thing in common is that everyone is poor. The only exception is Chino's family who might be considered middle class, in comparison with the others in the film.Their meager access to food is made clear. Some enterprising individuals resort to stealing from the government whatever they can barter for something they, or someone else will need to make a swap. This is the case with the family that has nothing but rice and beans to eat, and suddenly someone brings a big piece of meat from one of the places only reserved for hard currency payment, or for tourists. Corruption seems to be everywhere, in spite of the propaganda. Necessity creates this type of mentality when there is nothing else around, not even hope. The narrative interlaces several individuals that don't necessarily know one another. It is a favorite technique employed with success by the Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Inurritu and others. Mr. Sola, the director tried to encompass a lot of wrongs he saw in a political and social system, that, like all totalitarian regimes, doesn't seem to work. Thus, the only escape from their humdrum existence is leaving the country. Humberto Solas, who died not too long ago, enjoyed his success in the Cuban cinema, notably for "Lucia" the film that propelled him into the recognition he deserved.

Vincent Pollard This is without doubt one of the worst films I have ever seen.I was really looking forward to it after going to Cuba for the first time this summer and seeing the tough life people live there and being a fan of Humberto Solás' early work.The acting is truly dreadful and the script is worse - with all the important plot information delivered to the viewer through hackneyed dialogue in the least discreet way possible. The music is incredibly abrasive, which given Cuba's bountiful supply of great musicians is inexcusable.Very disappointing. It's hard to believe this is from the same director as Lucía.

Otto Rodriguez Barrio Cuba is one of those movies that become memorable in an instant. It reflects crudely the Cuban reality. The plots don't need political discourses, they are dramatic and crude enough. It shows a country in ruins and the hopeless state of mind of Cubans. You have to have lived in Cuba or at least be extremely familiar with the Cuban reality to really grasp what this movie is all about. In my view the only flaw is that at the end Solas had the opportunity to beautifully link all the three plots in at least two different scenes, the one of Mario Limonta standing in front of a train and the scene at the airport, where a Cuban family is returning to visit their relatives in the island. Kudos to Humberto Solas!

teesee_03 This is an awful movie, on so many levels. Technically, it's simply inept; it is shot with little or no supplementary lighting, so the interior scenes appear muddy, with large areas of murky shadow. The colours generally are drab and washed out.To call the script melodramatic is an understatement - any of these situations could have been transplanted from a low-budget soap. These filmmakers need to realise that getting the actors to cry a lot doesn't guarantee that the audience will, too. Embarrassed laughter was the main response at the showing I attended.Finally, there is little that is uniquely Cuban about the the situations in this movie. Yes, it does show that life for the poor in Cuba is not wonderful, but it would have been better if the movie had explored more deeply *why* the situation of the characters is so desperate, and what it is about Cuba, its economy and its political situation that means that its people have to live that way.I was looking forward to seeing this film, but I came away from it deeply disappointed; unfortunately, the good intentions which may have been behind it simply couldn't make up for an overwhelming lack of talent.