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Soy Cuba
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Soy Cuba (1964) -- Open-ended Trailer from Milestone

Overview

User Rating:
7.6/10   2,580 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
Up 15% in popularity this week. See why on IMDbPro.
Director:
Writers:
Enrique Pineda Barnet (writer)
Yevgeni Yevtushenko (writer)(Cuban version)
Contact:
View company contact information for Soy Cuba on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
December 1995 (USA) more
Genre:
Plot:
Four vignettes in Batista's Cuba dramatize the need for revolution; long, mobile shots tell almost wordless stories... more | add synopsis
Plot Keywords:
Awards:
2 wins & 1 nomination more
NewsDesk:
A Take Above the Rest
 (From SoundOnSight. 18 October 2009, 1:13 AM, PDT)

User Comments:
A pinnacle of cinematic art more (46 total)

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)
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)
more
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Additional Details

Also Known As:
Я - Куба (Soviet Union: Russian title)
I Am Cuba
Me, Kuba (Soviet Union: Georgian title)
Ya Kuba (Soviet Union: Russian title)
Eimai i Kouva (Greece) (reissue title) [el]
Eu Sou Cuba (Brazil) [pt]
Ich bin Kuba (West Germany) [de]
Ikari no Kyuba (Japan) [ja]
Matomeni patrida (Greece) [el]
more
Runtime:
141 min
Country:
Language:
Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Certification:
Filming Locations:

Fun Stuff

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. more
Goofs:
Revealing mistakes: Mariano repeatedly fires and cocks his bolt-action rifle, but no shell casings are ejected. more
Quotes:
Pedro: I used to think the most terrifying thing in life is death. Now I know the most terrifying thing in life is life. more
Movie Connections:
Featured in Soy Cuba, O Mamute Siberiano (2005) more

FAQ

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.
15 out of 18 people found the following comment useful.
A pinnacle of cinematic art, 18 November 2002
Author: Howard Schumann from Vancouver, B.C.

"Don't avert your eyes. Look! I am Cuba. For you, I am the casino, the bar, hotels and brothels. But the hands of these children and old people are also me" -- Yevgeni Yevtushenko

I Am Cuba is described by film critic Elliot Wilhelm as "a unique, insane, exhilarating spectacle". Filmed in Spanish, dubbed in Russian, and subtitled in English, this unique collaboration between Russian director Mikhail Kalatozov (The Cranes are Flying), the poet Yevgeni Yevtushenko, and writer Enrique Pineda Barnet dramatizes the conditions that led to the 1959 Cuban revolution. Originally made in 1964 (and unpopular both in Russia and Cuba), it was released in 1995 through the combined efforts of Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola.

I Am Cuba is set in the late 1950s when a ragtag bunch of students, workers, and peasants organized to overthrow the corrupt regime of dictator Fulgencio Batista. The film is divided into four sequences. The first depicts the American-run gambling casinos and prostitution in Havana. The next shows a farmer burning his sugar cane when he learns he is going to lose his land to United Fruit. Another describes the suppression of students and dissenters at Havana University, and the final sequence shows how government bombing of mountain fields induced farmers to join with the rebels in the Sierra Maestre mountains. The final scene is a triumphal march into Havana to proclaim the revolution.

Marvelously photographed in black and white by Sergei Urusevsky and using acrobatic camerawork by Alexandr Kalzaty, some of the shots and distorted camera angles are so staggering as to be virtually unbelievable. In one sequence, the camera lifts off from a hotel rooftop, takes in the Havana skyline, descends several floors, winds its way through the poolside party-goers, and then takes you for a swim in the pool in one continuous shot. Reminiscent of Sergei Eisenstein, the caricatures are broad but are presented with such exuberance that it hardly seems to matter. Audacious and imaginative, I Am Cuba is a revelation, not only for its style but also for its inspiration. Filmed with true visionary poetry, I Am Cuba transcends the genre of advocacy filmmaking to reach a pinnacle of cinematic art.

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Anyone seen this Applejacksheartattack
Song/Soundtrack help! adouglas60
Versions without Russian dubbing??? sleepy928
Mikhail Kalatozov never directed anything divxil
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Identifying locations: Hotel in long take and nightclub eagle-78
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