Suite Habana

Its so easy to fall in the typical Cuban clichés, both for the filmmakers and for the viewers watching it. But Suite Habana is a beautiful movie. It doesn't talk about poor people. It talks about Cuban people. Its not against Fidel. Its just a quasi documentarian effort to tell the daily story of Cubans. Its the story of geographical separation. There are more than 5 million of Cubans living in exile. There's the story of a clown who has to work just hours after he said goodbye to his brother at the airport. There's the story of the Cuban couple that spends the entire day planning and setting up their night: going to dance "casino" to a club. Their only escape. In that country where Cubans get paid in "Pesos" and almost all the clubs have to be paid in "dollars" while 1 Dollar = 24 Pesos. Its the story of a talented ballet dancer who has to live an odissey to arrive to the "Gran Teatro de La Habana" for his show. In that same country where you have to ask the taxi driver where is HE going and not the other way. Because in Cuba the taxis for Cubans never go where you want to, they have their own routes whether is convenient or not. It doesn't matter. Thats why I say that its quasi docuemtarian because it tells stories that really happens. But despite of all this, Its beautiful. And its beautiful because it reflects how Cubans manage to find beauty everywhere. How they manage to keep dancing and smiling. How they manage to write tremendous novels. To make great films, to make great music. You have to watch this film. Technically its great. La Habana is one of the most photogenic cities in the world. But run 90 minutes without a dialogue its amazing. It keeps you interested, excited, emotive. Its a great great movie. Watch it!

An almost wordless portrait of modern-day Havana with sublime music. The camera follows ten Havana citizens through one day. The chosen subjects are ordinary folks: an old peanut vendor with a bed-ridden husband at home; a hospital laundry worker who performs in a drag show by night; a sad-eyed medic who moonlights as a clown (the only spoken words in the film are the clown's manic spiel at a children's birthday party); a young man who slogs as a menial worker, then when night falls, dazzles as one of the principal dancers in a ballet performance; a widowed factory worker who lovingly tends his Down's syndrome-afflicted son; a railway employee who morphs into a jazz saxophonist by night. The failure of the Communist experiment in Cuba has marked each of these people, yet they find, to a degree, salvation in art, and in loving somebody. While the aged peanut vendor roasts the nuts that she will sell the following day, the camera moves to the walls behind her. On one crumbling wall, is a yellowed photograph of her and her husband on their wedding day, beaming with youthful energy and optimism. The factory worker and his son are the poorest of the lot; when their day is done, they climb up on the roof of their tenement building and gaze at the full moon with an appreciation that is truly humbling. The most mundane details of what comprises life are observed with the most exquisite thoroughness: a child joyfully rushing into the arms of a parent at day's end; a performer applying his make-up with an almost religious concentration; the effort, in empty night-darkened streets, of wangling a ride to a performance. I was moved to tears by this haunting empathetic examination of the human condition, by the ability to love despite having nothing left to give, and the restorative powers of Art.

A visual feast. Shows the lives of modern Cubans living in Havana during their daily routines. The music is wonderful and the editing is superb. There is no dialogue, the director relies on visual images along with some explanatory titles to tell the tale. A minimalist approach that works incredibly well!

...and more importantly, with a decent structure. The conceit - cut between a dozen people living in Havana to show what a day in the life of the city is like - is immensely appealing to the humanist in me. But it's more like a dream of what Havana's like - everybody's noble; there's no signs of crime or any danger. It's like one of those films where the director tries to recreate his idyllic childhood, except it's set in the present. The radical in me would like to point out the "characters" invariably feel like stereotypes (except maybe the clown-doctor) - of course a lot of people do feel like stereotypes, and there's a lot of life in them; but in my experience a lot of people are also staunchly individual, and unless the Cold War propaganda was right this must be true in Cuba as well. So my reactions to the characters are just my stereotypical ones. Fathers caring for their sons are always sweet; infallible yet world-weary elders are always less so.

Much of the time this feels like a Kodak ad. That's still better than "Winged Migration". If you've got enough humanist in you, you'll find this warm enough and pretty enough to be worthwhile.

Grateful to Instituto Cervantes to bring this gem of a film to the Philippines ; a must see ; the soundtrack is also great. All the characters are really touching, especially the widower and his son. The film shows people struggling with their professional and private lives (a young construction worker who is also a ballet dancer !). Not knowing Cuba, I was wondering if contemporary Cuba is really like this : even the fridges are 1950s "vintage" ! Strangely enough, the films brought sadness and joy (or hope at least) at the same time and made me want to visit Cuba. 9/10