Despite the fact that the tracking shots are superbly done and that the camera work excellent, if dizzying to watch this film seemed to me a patchwork quilt of other films. The opening long scene is set in a casino/brothel and the women on sale are lined up as if for a fashion show. It reminded me a lot of ' La Dolce Vita ' and the extravagant and stereotyped behaviour of the characters, dancing hysterically around bamboo canes and a stone figure was in my opinion way over the top. The whole film is and just about halfway through a demonstration starts on a tall climb of University steps and the descent of the rebel students, fired on by water hoses reminded me of ' Battleship Potemkin. ' Again from my point of view I found the set pieces ( there are mainly four ) to be high melodrama and in the right mood very enjoyable. Apart from the slums which reminded me of Bunuel's ' Las Hurdes ' where the people looked obviously in a bad way the rest of the cast were either well heeled ' Americans,' fat and ugly soldiers and stunningly handsome revolutionaries. These and the women in the brothel gave off a cold eroticism which quite definitely made me think reality is certainly not reality.
Review of I Am Cuba
