Dame la mano

Heddy Honigmann is a serious documentary maker whose previous work we had admired. Among our personal favorites are: "The Underground Orchestra" and "O Amor Natural", which clearly showed the talent of Ms. Honigmann.

In this new film, "Dame la mano", Ms. Honigmann traveled to New Jersey to follow a group of Cubans exiles that have brought with them their country's traditions in the form of song and dance. We are taken to Union City, a town across the Hudson, where we are introduced to the people that during the day must work hard in order to make a living, but during their spare time, some of them are seen honing on their skills as dancers, and singers. Afro-Cuban culture is kept alive by all the people we see showcased in the documentary.

The final montage of a night at "La Esquina Habanera" shows how these exiles party and do wonderful music together. All the participants are skilled in dancing the rumba the way they learned in their homeland. The sweet Rafaela, a sixty-something old woman, shows that she might be an excellent cook during the day, but she is an amazing dancer at night.

Ms. Honigmann captured the essence of these people doing what they do best.

Everybody knows the power of music in our memories. Music is even more powerful when it's connected -as in Dame la mano- with the land where you were born. The films follows in a nice way a group of Cuban exiles living in NY and NJ. Some are musicians, others dancers, other just common exiles. All of them work hard to survive in the USA. They are attached in a ambivalent way to the country which has given them a shelter. All of the characters in the film attend each Sunday evening a place where the real Afro-Cuban rumba is performed. The place is called "Esquina Habanera" in NJ. When at the end of the film you see them all together in Esquina Habanera, you realize during the beautifully almost 30 minutes of music and dance, that those exiles are a family, united by the rumba. The award as Best Musical Film at the Tiburon International Film Festival in the USA, was very well deserved.