The Lost City [Blu-ray]

Let me preface my estimate of the film acknowledging the initial and comtinuing large scale health care and educational efforts of the Revolution. I remember it well. It was the first step into Paradise, the only issue among early 60's radicals was whether Trotsky or Lenin would carry the torch. We found out very quickly who it would be, well, sort of, if we only had listened to ourselves, I remember the specific interchange between a party and populist student socialist: "Castro has banned all opposition press." "Haven't you read that this was necessary. It was a question of the allocation of limited paper supplies." And I kid you not, the defender went on to argue that toilet paper was a more pressing need! And since then much toilet paper has been wiping up after Fidel.Again, to be fair, there has been changes in policy and direction, what is termed "Fidel's pragmatic understanding of concrete revolutionary factors," like sending Che to South America and more recently allowing non-party members to have limited cellphone access (maybe to call Costco for more toilet paper) have and are taking place. A "new generation" of leaders are already in place as Fidel and Raul have moved to the refurbished outskirts of Havana.But what of Hidden City by Andy Garcia?While many people shun the film as conservative propaganda--some with sincere feelings that the Revolution overcame terror and exploitation, most committed leftists do so because of the portrayal of especially Che and the Party post-revolutionary tactics and "vision" for a New Cuba. Well, having been to and going again to Cuba/Havana, the notethe film ends on unfortunately is more than accurate. Only a lengthy searching visit, really, visits--and not to one of those "sanctioned" cultural tours--can reveal what one mental Heath professional described as a society that knocks you off your feet and "turns you into beast."When I spoke with varied groups and individuals--of course in anxious secrecy, about the limitations and possibilities of life in the States, there was a repeated open-mouthed stare followed by--as one professional-turned-construction-worker-turned-hotel-service-employee put it, "You don't understand how what you describe as "freedom" in the States doesn't register with us. It's like an extra-terrestrial describing another galaxy!" And, quickly during my first trip to Havana, I found out the concrete reality that prevented his understanding, the CDR "offices" that doted every neighborhood.In one stopping at a three table cafe, someone cautiously slipped from the Committee for the Defense of the Revolution storefront and sat next to us. Blinking eyes and a grimaced look fom my friend cautioned me to be careful in what I said and asked. Later, as we walked through the park near a perpetually netted being-refurbished public building. I expressed my disbelief in what had occurred. "I just thought it was someone who wanted to get in on a conversation with a foreigner." Pointing to a group of maybe twenty or so men gathered around a park bench in heated animation, my friend asked. "What do you think they are arguing about?" "Their families, children, women?" "No," "Politics?" "Oh, no, never." "What then?" "Baseball. Every day at the same bench, it's baseball. Our public discourse, about what we may have an opinion or feelings about is one-dimensional with heavy lines. That is why the description of even a two-dimensional society confounds us. We are permitted width, not depth, and certainly never altitude... Except with close friends and carefully guarded. You don't even speak in front of children about certain subjects because they might innocently repeat to the wrong person or in the wrong place."It was at that point that I felt like an extra-terrestrial who had landed on Flatland. When, in the film, Andy Garcia's nightclub owner character is told that his orchestra can no longer have a saxophone because the saxophone was developed by a Belgian and the Belgians are surpressing Lamumba's Congalese revolutionary struggle, I understood how a one-dimensional political society had developed and defined a person's self-identity. My friend brought the weight of such restrictions home to me when said, "You don't understand. I and most Cubans were born into this. There is no ' outside', nothing before 1959 exists. Look around you. All you see are '59 Chevys and a few Russian compacts left behind."So, the film, is it accurate? Obviously I think so from what I have directly seen, heard and remember about what happened to our enthusiasms for a fourth dimension of political possibilities. But what rings most true about the film is to me captured in its final moments when Andy Garcia's character literally dances up a staircase to Cuban rhythms (with a saxophone contributing). Why? Because the Cuban people that I've come to know on a truly personal level live in and must publically comport themselves to Party doggerel and two note cadences, but even with CDR scrutiny, their "music" erupts everywhere and you can't help clapping time and breaking into a Mambo move. And when Andy Garcia's character stops his dancing ascent and turns to give a clave head nod and smile before continuing on, you understand that the Cuban soul and future is as powerful and pure as ever, 1-2-3..1-2, waiting for the right partner to ask for the next dance, hopefully when the old bandmaster goes to the paradise he deserves.

What an interesting movie! Enough reviews here on Amazon from people that lived the era, so I won't rehash that. A friend's father went exactly through the same as depicted in the movie including being allowed to leave with just a suitcase and rebuilding a life in the US from the bottom up.I thought all the actors did a very credible job portraying how the family gets destroyed from within because of the Revolution and its aftermath. In a way, I can see bits of "novela" played out which is not a bad thing in this case. And the family concept is not just the family itself (grandparent, parent, grandchildren generation) but also "family" as in very close friends and work families.What I will add is that this is also a very cautionary tale. Be careful what you wish for because you just might get it and no amount of money/property will insulate you in those cases. For younger people, you can see what Venezuela has become even if that came in a different time of history without the duopoly of the West and Communism in the world.The Dominican Republic pinch hit for Cuba and the scenery is gorgeous. The movie is a tad long, but it is exactly as long as it needs to be to tell its story.A beautiful, yearning, movie for anyone who has had to have fled their country.

A loving tribute to cuba and to havana. A bit one-sided as it is seen through the eyes of a wealthy and influential family, and does not depict the grinding poverty and miserable existence prior to the revolution. But it certainly conveys the agonies wrought by the fidelistas upon taking power, and emphasizes their betrayal of the ideals of democracy. The biggest and glaring weakness is the Bill Murray character. There is not even a glimmer of a rationale for it, what is he doing there, who is he? He detracts from every scene in which he appears by giving it the aura of a SNL skit rather than falling in line with the script. The film was a bit too long, as some of the later scenes from NYC could have easily been cut. Overall, a good solid film, generally well written and nicely acted.

Good movie in many respects -- surprised I didn't hear of it when it came out. I think it accurately portrays the sentiment of many of the liberal upper classes in Latin America, though to do so it doesn't attempt to see the revolutionaries as much more than 2 dimensional characters responsible for destroying their privileged way of life. My experience living among this class is that they are lost in their own countries and morality -- and so it makes sense that the main character was a producer of cabarets, living to create a fictional world out of the physical talent of the people largely oppressed by those they entertain. I think this perspective would resonate among the Hollywood elite. Even though I don't share the perspective of the protagonist, and criticize the one-sided perspective as depicted, I imagine I would too have been disappointed with the institutionalization of the revolution.

This movie is simply breathtaking, but it's not for everybody, only for smart people. I never get tired of watching it.

Très bon achat, super bon prix, livraison rapide, efficace et sécuritaire. Livre impeccable.

Good movie!

Excellent A+++

My husband and I seen this film afew years ago loved it, so I thought I would buy it for him as a stocking filler for Christmas