Foreign Films: 'I am Cuba'

Mesmerizing from the very beginning, the 1964 film "I am Cuba" or "Soy Cuba/Ya Kuba" directed by Soviet filmmaker Mikhail Kalatozov, is a remarkable movie that will engage all of your senses, sometimes all at once. Filming of this Russian/Cuban production touches on the country's struggles as seen through the lives of the people affected by the betrayals of political promises for a better life. Martin Scorsese and Francis Coppola resurrected from obscurity "I am Cuba," which was filmed with the help of the Soviet studio Mosfilm and the Cuban Revolutionary Film Institute, giving a new generation of moviegoers an extraordinary look at extraordinary cinema. The film, dubbed "I am not Cuba" by the locals, began in the shadows of the Bay of Pigs as well as the Cuban missle crisis that had the potential of sweeping the superpowers into the possiblity of nuclear disaster.

The introduction to the movie proved to be a haunting reminder of this impending possibility as the camera begins with a slow, swooping aerial of palm trees that resemble an apocalyptic aftermath rather than a vision of serenity. It's as if they are the forgotten sentinels that once had a purpose and now stand in mute protest, a testament to a country on the brink of major change. The look of infrared black-and-white film throughout the movie adds to the lyrical quality of a screenplay that examines Cuba under Batista's bureaucracy creating an edge with an ever-so-subtle style.

After the opening credits, Kalatozov seamlessly guides us through several storylines that are filled with enormous contrasts, an oxymoron of circumstances that are actually related. After the paradox of ideas plays out, the narrator whispers,"I am Cuba," a statement that reflects the complexity of each contrast and how closely they parallel one another. What is impressive about the film is it's direction from the scenes of poverty that eventually spill into Havana opulence with innovative camera techniques that take us from the roof of a building down into the depths of an underwater scene of a hotel swimming pool in one take, immersing us into the lives of people who all seem resigned to the fate (good or bad) that destiny has dealt them while handling each dilemma with quiet resilience captured in the shadows of collaborative corruption. Throughout the movie, we examine in poetic fashion, a technique that moves us with a more visceral feel, leading us into several beginnings with no concrete end. In one vignette, a sugar cane farmer, who's face is etched with fortitude, walks through his infant plants and prays for them to grow, not for him, but for the future of his children. In a climatic narrative, he's faced with the reality of losing everything, echoing a theme that reverberates in all of the lives to which we are introduced.

The ingenious cinematography by Sergei Urusevsky offers a poignant presentation of these sagas in a way that places you squarely in the heart of the subjects illustrating at one point what death looks like through the eyes of a revolutionist as he steadfastly walks into the bullets of his assassin. His apparent disregard to the finality of his life punctuates the realities that come with any struggle for the hope of a better existence.

Set aside the perception of political propaganda from "I am Cuba" and you're left with an incredibly artistic film filled with surreal imagery illuminated by the garish lights of veiled repression. But you can forget the notion of casting the politics aside. Art in films, and anywhere else for that matter, continues to, among other things, provoke, stimulate, encourage, divide, and make attempts to redirect any former thought you may have had about something. This film accomplishes all of the above while taking us below the surface of never-ending scenarios tempered with a discontent that continues to exist nearly 40 years later giving us the sense, in this film, that life really imitates art with brave bravado.

Not rated; language, Russian, Spanish, English with English subtitles. Available for purchase on amazon.com or Barnes and Noble. Also available to rent at Blockbuster Video, Riverchase Plaza located on the corner of U.S. 41 and Immokalee Road.

Judy Lutz is the photo editor of the Daily News. She can be reached at jhlutz@naplesnews.com