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CNN Live Saturday
Cuban Movie Sheds Light On Oppressive Regime
Aired August 02, 2003 - 18:17 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KELLI ARENA, CNN ANCHOR: Well, it's not often that leaders of oppressive regimes will allow publicity about their failures. And that makes our next story all the more remarkable.
Lucia Newman tells us the tale of a movie made about ordinary people living in Havana, Cuba, and how its bleak reality has led to a box office blockbuster.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LUCIA NEWMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ten year old Fansi Quito has Down's Syndrome. He goes to a special school for children like him and seems happy .
Not so almost everyone else in "Sweet Havana," a powerful Cuban film that follows 12 people through the raw reality of life in today's Cuba.
The background is the crumbling, yet still strangely beautiful city of Havana. 79-year old Amanda sells peanuts in the park to feed herself and her sick husband because she can't survive on her pension.
Dr. Juan Carlos Rokes (ph) cycles to work every day and never smiles. Eddie Berto (ph) repairs railroad tracks, while his grandmother watches almost hypnotized the always identical movement of Cuban flags at the latest government political rally.
There's no dialogue, only natural sound in this real life documentary, which as astonished Cubans, not only because of its frankness, but because of the fact that the government has allowed it to be shown.
"It shows the poverty and everything that happens here," says this young man. "Depressing, very depressing," says this woman. While it obviously does not paint a flattering picture of life under the revolution, "Sweet Havana's" director insists his film should not be analyzed from a preconceived political point of view.
Our reality is above all that," says Fernando Perez. "And one should approach it without prejudices to understand it. The idea is not to criticize, but to show the complexity of our society."
Despite everything, Perez says Cubans still have dreams.
(on camera): Day and night, under the sun and even under the rain, a guard sits next to this statute of John Lennon in a Havana park to make sure that nobody steals his glasses. Yet the person who does this thankless job is constantly reminded of the words of John Lennon's song, "Imagine," a song about never losing one's dreams.
(voice-over): Like Francis Quito, who looks at the stars with his father. Or the doctor who dresses up as a clown on the weekends to make children laugh. We ran into the doctor on the way out of the cinema and asked him whether dreaming was enough.
"It depends on how you look at it," he says, "and whether you see the glass of water half empty or half full."
"Sweet Havana" makes its international debut at the San Sebastian Film Festival in Spain in September.
Lucia Newman, CNN, Havana.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired August 2, 2003 - 18:17 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KELLI ARENA, CNN ANCHOR: Well, it's not often that leaders of oppressive regimes will allow publicity about their failures. And that makes our next story all the more remarkable.
Lucia Newman tells us the tale of a movie made about ordinary people living in Havana, Cuba, and how its bleak reality has led to a box office blockbuster.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LUCIA NEWMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ten year old Fansi Quito has Down's Syndrome. He goes to a special school for children like him and seems happy .
Not so almost everyone else in "Sweet Havana," a powerful Cuban film that follows 12 people through the raw reality of life in today's Cuba.
The background is the crumbling, yet still strangely beautiful city of Havana. 79-year old Amanda sells peanuts in the park to feed herself and her sick husband because she can't survive on her pension.
Dr. Juan Carlos Rokes (ph) cycles to work every day and never smiles. Eddie Berto (ph) repairs railroad tracks, while his grandmother watches almost hypnotized the always identical movement of Cuban flags at the latest government political rally.
There's no dialogue, only natural sound in this real life documentary, which as astonished Cubans, not only because of its frankness, but because of the fact that the government has allowed it to be shown.
"It shows the poverty and everything that happens here," says this young man. "Depressing, very depressing," says this woman. While it obviously does not paint a flattering picture of life under the revolution, "Sweet Havana's" director insists his film should not be analyzed from a preconceived political point of view.
Our reality is above all that," says Fernando Perez. "And one should approach it without prejudices to understand it. The idea is not to criticize, but to show the complexity of our society."
Despite everything, Perez says Cubans still have dreams.
(on camera): Day and night, under the sun and even under the rain, a guard sits next to this statute of John Lennon in a Havana park to make sure that nobody steals his glasses. Yet the person who does this thankless job is constantly reminded of the words of John Lennon's song, "Imagine," a song about never losing one's dreams.
(voice-over): Like Francis Quito, who looks at the stars with his father. Or the doctor who dresses up as a clown on the weekends to make children laugh. We ran into the doctor on the way out of the cinema and asked him whether dreaming was enough.
"It depends on how you look at it," he says, "and whether you see the glass of water half empty or half full."
"Sweet Havana" makes its international debut at the San Sebastian Film Festival in Spain in September.
Lucia Newman, CNN, Havana.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
