Soy Cuba (1964)

Director:

Mikhail Kalatozov

Writers:

Enrique Pineda Barnet (writer)
Yevgeni Yevtushenko (writer)(Cuban version)

Release Date:

December 1995 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Four vignettes in Batista's Cuba dramatize the need for revolution; long, mobile shots tell almost wordless stories...

Plot Keywords:

Fire | Batista Regime | Surreal | Dream Like | Avant Garde

Awards:

2 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Sergio Corrieri	...	Alberto
Salvador Wood
José Gallardo	...	Pedro
Raúl García	...	Enrique
Luz María Collazo	...	Maria / Betty
Jean Bouise	...	Jim (in Cuban version) (as Jean Bouisse)
Alberto Morgan
Celia Rodriguez	...	Gloria (in Cuban version) (as Zilia Rodríguez)
Fausto Mirabal
Roberto García York	...	American activist
María de las Mercedes Díez
Bárbara Domínguez
Jesús del Monte		(as Isis del Monte)
Luisa María Jiménez	...	Teresa
Mario González Broche	...	Pablo (in Cuban version) (as Mario González)

Also Known As:

Я - Куба (Soviet Union: Russian title)
I Am Cuba
Me, Kuba (Soviet Union: Georgian title)
Ya Kuba (Soviet Union: Russian title)

Runtime:

141 min

Country:

Soviet Union | Cuba

Language:

Spanish | English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:PG | Singapore:PG | Brazil:18 | Italy:T (2005) | Finland:K-12 | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | Argentina:13

Filming Locations:

Cuba

Company:

Gosudarstvenii Komitet po Kinematografii (Goskino

Trivia:

The now famous long take that begins at the top of the hotel, then winds around and down into the swimming pool, originally come out of the water and continued. The camera was hand held, passed from crew member to crew member, to make its way down the side of the hotel into the pool. The camera lens had been equipped with a high speed, spinning glass disk taken from a submarine periscope. The spinning disk was installed to fling water drops of the lens when the camera emerged from the swimming pool at the end of the shot. Much to the disappointment of the camera crew, director Mikhail Kalatozov cut the end of the take, ending it underwater.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Mariano repeatedly fires and cocks his bolt-action rifle, but no shell casings are ejected.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Soy Cuba, O Mamute Siberiano (2005)

Film School

No less than thirty shots have been ripped off from this movie in the past five years, in films like Out of Sight, Boogie Nights, and Pulp Fiction. Watching "I Am Cuba" is an education in film technique and the beauty of the eponymous country. The picture's plot is abysmal. It is an exercise in cinematography. It is among the most influential movies, style-wise, that the American public has never seen and honestly brilliant on all terms.

Imagine taking a tour of Cuba, in 1964, through the eyes of four metaphors: luxury, poverty, revolution, and vagrancy. Times are changing, the country is changing. However, no matter how much anything changes, the sun-soaked gorgeousness of the land doesn't budge. The camera glides around like a member of the tour who has gone off on his own, looking at the four principles.

I Am Cuba is film that needs no hyperbole. It Is Great