Plot from Imdb: "Four vignettes in Batista's Cuba dramatize the need for revolution; long, mobile shots tell almost wordless stories..."
Where to start ? To begin with, it's a movie from genius director M.Kalatozov, who won the Palme d'Or in Cannes in 1958 for "The cranes are flying", another great movie. But "Soy Cuba" is a tremendous leap forward, because it contains almost all of the modern cinema techniques. Some shot are so innovative for that time, it's almost unbelievable. It starts with a slowly moving, grand angle sequence, in a pirogue, it cuts to one of the most famous scene of this movie, the "wild capitalist party" sequence shot, that starts in a hotel roof to end IN a pool, ten floors below. And so on, and so on...I could tell you also about the "procession" sequence, with "flying cameras", etc... but there is no end to it. It goes on and on, it's mesmerizing and overwhelming. This movie has been shelved during years by the communist authorities, that though that it didn't do its works well as a piece of propaganda (the "wild capitalist party" looks great, I must say), therefore nobody knew about this movie until Francis Ford Coppola & Martin Scorsese found it, restored it and distributed it. Thanks to these greats directors, we can at last see this masterpiece !
trailer:
Roof-pool sequence shot:
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