I Am Cuba

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I Am Cuba

1995,

2h 21m,

Drama

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Watchlist

100%

40 Reviews

Tomatometer

92%

2,500+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

100%

Tomatometer

40 Reviews

92%

Popcornmeter

2,500+ Ratings

A study in contrasts set in and around Havana that explores Cuba's 1959 revolution. A young woman's fascination with the excess of an American-owned casino leads to her downfall in the eyes of her street vendor boyfriend. A tenant farmer revolts the only way he knows how, attacking the land he works. University students gain first-hand knowledge of political upheaval. And, in the hills outside the city, the members of a poor peasant family are patriotically swept up into the burgeoning revolt.

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Critics Consensus

Visually absorbing and formally audacious, I Am Cuba (Soy Cuba) opens a long-buried time capsule that has lost none of its captivating power.

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Ed Gonzalez

Slant Magazine

Nov 17, 2007

4/4

I Am Cuba is a cinephile's wet dream, a collage of Herculean feats of technical wizardry that would be easy to dismiss if it wasn't so humane.

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Jonathan Rosenbaum

Chicago Reader

Sep 17, 2007

Some of the most exhilarating camera movements and most luscious black-and-white cinematography you'll ever see inhabit this singular, delirious 141-minute communist propaganda epic.

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David Parkinson

Empire Magazine

Dec 30, 2006

4/5

Politically nave maybe, but it works beautifully as straight cinema.

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David Harris

Spectrum Culture

Nov 13, 2024

With Donald Trump set to return to power, I Am Cuba may be a difficult watch, especially for those unwilling to surrender their freedom to a self-proclaimed “strongman.”

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Michael J. Casey

Metro Arts

Apr 26, 2024

4/5

Invigorating cinema.

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Ellie Lucas

From the Front Row

Apr 24, 2024

4/4

One of the most extraordinary pieces of revolutionary propaganda ever produced, as vibrant and vital as anything the Soviets released during the silent era.

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Ron P

May 14, 2018

Bit boring, especially if you have no interest of Cuba. Wide angle looks stunning

Finn M

Jul 8, 2017

Its visual style is like a seminar about using a camera with full potential. Extraordinary cinematography.

Draco W

Mar 6, 2017

The great Soviet director Mikhail Kalatozov was commissioned to make a film celebrating the Cuban revolution. Nobody really liked the results ... Cubans thought it presented a distorted view of Cuba, and the Soviet government was unhappy with the artiness of the completed film ... so it was essentially shelved. Rediscovered decades later, this is an astonishing piece of work. It's not really a great film from a narrative point of view. It tells four stories that are attempts to show the necessity of revolution in Cuba, but while they demonstrate that life could be pretty awful in pre-revolutionary Cuba, they don't really do much to convince the viewer that life would be any better in post-revolutionary Cuba (and the first segment manages to make the night life in pre-revolutionary Cuba look amazing). It's this film's visual inventiveness that makes it a must see. Besides some of the more famous sequences, like the several story drop to poolside and into the pool, the film is just generally an astonishing visual spectacle. Come for the politics, stay for the visuals.

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Synopsis

A study in contrasts set in and around Havana that explores Cuba's 1959 revolution. A young woman's fascination with the excess of an American-owned casino leads to her downfall in the eyes of her street vendor boyfriend. A tenant farmer revolts the only way he knows how, attacking the land he works. University students gain first-hand knowledge of political upheaval. And, in the hills outside the city, the members of a poor peasant family are patriotically swept up into the burgeoning revolt.

Director: Mikhail Kalatozov
Genre: Drama
Original Language: Spanish
Release Date (Theaters): Mar 8, 1995, Original
Release Date (DVD): Sep 15, 2009
Runtime: 2h 21m

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