Post #298978 by bigbrotiki on Fri, Apr 13, 2007 9:38 AM

I agree that the nightclub scenes are the core of the film,together with the magical beginning approach to the island, cutting straight to the rooftop fashion show and the amazing camera move down to the pool deck and into the pool. Before this film, the director and cameraman had won the 1958 palm d'or at the Cannes Film Festival with their "The Cranes Are Flying", which displays similarly amazing camera work. When I first saw snippets of "I Am Cuba" as reference for a music video job, I thought it was clipped from a contemporary music video, because the wide angle handheld camera work seemed so modern. AND, also, the weird mix of Spanish original sound, Russian commentator voice over that, and American subtitles on top, contributed to that modern Kafka-esque estrangement effect.

Now, after having been to Cuba, it seems even more appropriate: This is what these people have been through, and are the result of, today. A truly Kafka-esque mixture of Spanish colonial, Russian communist, and American capitalist involvement. Cuba is the history of the world of the 20th Century in a nut shell (or nut house!).

Also, when I watched I Am Cuba for the first time, I recognized the hanging bird cage lamps and the table lamps as Trader Vic's decor. I wrote an internet article about it that has been hanging around for a long time (still is?) that made it sound like the club scene was shot AT the Havana Trader Vic's, but it wasn't, it was shot on a sound stage, using parts of its decor as props. I am pretty sure that none of the giant proto-primitive Tikis ever were in the restaurant, unfortunately I could not find anyone that had been around then.