I am Cuba (1964)
Director: Mikhail Kalatozov.
Cast: Luz Maria Collazo (Maria Betty), Jose Gallardo (Pedro), Sergio Corrieri
(Alberto), Mario Gonzalez Broche (Pablo), Raul Garcia (Enrique), Jean Bouise
(Jim).
Partially written by renowned poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko.
Russian-made study of Cuba before the Castro revolution. It traces the causes
of the revolution examining the problems created by the political oppression of
the Batista regime. It covers the great discrepancies in wealth and power,
foreign contributions to Havana's prostitution and poverty, the burden of the
workers in the sugar cane fields. Then the scene changes to the activities of
leftist students battling the police.
Anti-American slant to the film and Castro may not have turned out to be the great savior of Cuba, but at least some of the causes of the revolution are portrayed correctly.
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