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September 17, 2005

Cuba's hurled message in a bottle

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Val Prieto at the estimable Babalu Blog has scored a major coup in getting his hands on a Castro—critical movie coming out of Cuba and downloading it onto his blog. The fifteen—minute film depicts a Cuban dissident who's paid a visit by two of Castro's secret police, and the ensuing drama. It's an extremely unusual topic coming out of a totalitarian regime, and for that Val thinks it worth the painstaking effort to download it for Americans to see for the first time.
 
Even as the film depicts Castro's goons, it is not without a touch of controversy — on the Miami side. Some Miami Cubans have expressed suspicion of the film as Castro's phony effort to fool the Europeans into thinking he's lightened up. But to Val, what's significant is that this film offers criticism, subtle criticism, but criticism nonetheless, against the Castro regime — probably more criticism than Castro is aware of. The Buena Vista Social Club accomplished this same effect, too, in its non—political approach.  
 
Val explains out his take on that, and many other such contextual subtleties in his blog. If Cuba under Castro is an isolated shipwreck, this film amounts to a short message in a bottle hurled outward to connect with the outside world and seek help.
 
This film is in Spanish only, but understandable enough to English speakers because of its actors' expressive facial features and body language. The film will only be up for a short time [Ed. — it has been temporarily removed because of bandwidth limitations] at Babalu because of its impact on Val's bandwidth. However, Val is working on subtitles and will have those ready for English speakers soon. It's a must—see. Go see it here.
 
A.M. Mora y Leon 03 02 05