Barrio Cuba Film Review

Hadany González Fernández

801-11-2770

Ingl 4049

Prof. Rodriguez

October 5, 2016

Barrio Cuba Film Review

Barrio Cuba is a movie by the Cuban director Humberto Solá about the life of three different families living in La Havana, Cuba, who are looking for happiness and some kind of stability in the city, and their lives.  The movie shows the realities of three different families who live in the same neighborhood, but all have different stories, tragedies, struggles and hopes for their lives. It starts with Magalis, who is a nurse, and an older man, Ignacio, who declares his love for her. On the other hand, there is Maria, who was expecting her first child with Santo and everything was perfect between them, until a tragedy strikes and Santo leaves and becomes an alcoholic and criminal leaving his child all alone. Then, there is Vivian and Chino, who were happily married, but were not able to conceive, and at the end the pressure of society strain their relationship.

The movie has so many things to talk about that is insane, and it is definitely an awesome movie. I love how the movie shows the lives of all these different kind of households, all living in the same neighborhood, but all living so many different struggles and realities in their homes…. And even though their whole stories are all so different, what is beautiful about the movie is how it doesn’t matter what are their differences, they all have something in common, they all have an infinite hope of being happy in La Havana. They are all human beings in search of happiness, stability and love, even after life is constantly giving them a reality check, from a reality that is far from perfect, far away from happiness.

Since the beginning of the movies, it shows characters who are determined to live and fight for what they love, it shows characters that would never give up, and trough the movie, it demonstrate how even after all of their problems, they keep being fighters. The film is also the portrayal of a country at a specific time, where it was very difficult to maintain the dignity, and hope, but even after everything, every one of the characters do until the end.

Through each one of the families, the director gets to represent the most common struggles of that time, but most importantly and what not many know, they are still the struggles of today. On the one hand is the family that suffers the pain tough of separation between the island and the exile, and then there is the representation of the discriminations that there still is against those Cubans who move to other provinces without the approval of the government, whom they call “Palestinians” due to their refugee stratus.

Towards the beginning, there is a scene that is very representative of the shortage of food there is in the island, especially when the grandmother says how the small piece of meat they had would cost them some kind of favor anytime soon. Even though it can be a little over dramatic how the whole movie represents the different struggles of their lives, it is definitely true that all those struggles are real and still going on. Since the beginning of the movie we can clearly see and get the picture of the whole Cuban era and way of living at that time. The movie shows the sense of urban decay, and how the only way for them to succeed is by doing it themselves. It is interesting the different colors the director uses through the movie, giving it an ambience of toughness, difficulty, and hardship in Cuba.

The movie get to really show the rural life in “modern-day” Cuba, and how they get to carve their own way through life in order for them to live even after the conflicts of the socialist-welfare ideal of food as an entitlement and what the market value portray it as a commodity. It provides a comprehensive look at Cuba today, representing thorough the movie the history, politics, economics and social justice they live on. It especially shows how strong the Cuban people are and how their belief in love and family makes them stronger together. At the moment, the fil became really popular because it was a little more realistic of what Cuba really is, and how they really are. Even though I haven’t live in Cuba, especially during that time, it is beautiful to see how this movie really gets to portray every single story my grandparents have told me.

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