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Analysis Of Mikhail Kalatozov's Film I Am Cuba

Decent Essays

A Call of the Revolution
Watching Mikhail Kalatozov’s film I am Cuba (1967) is a moving cinematic experience. In the beginning, the film portrays a stereotypical Cuba through a carefree party on the rooftop and the contrasting scenes of the prostitute’s destitute village and the glamorous casino. The film depicts how Cuba moves from a repressed country to an epicenter of revolution through four vignettes in which each builds momentum to the next and an overall narrator that bridges the stories. The film narrates a movement starting with how the oppressive capitalists exploit Cuba and push the people over the edge. In the second half, the Cuban people move from passivity to actions, shown by a university protest and a villager joining the militia in a revolution to overthrow the corrupt regime. Among the vignettes, Enrique’s leadership in the university student protest stands out the most. Complemented by the shift in the camera’s perspective of space in relation to characters, it is a crucial turning point where the plot changes from the focus on a powerless individual to a vision depicting the power of collective action.
Enrique’s mission to assassinate the chief of police is a failed individual quest. The camera distorts the viewers’ senses and “moves with fundamental autonomy from the protagonist” to convey the futility of the individual against the formidable political establishment (Oukaderova, 70). He loses his sense of direction when he acts independent of his

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