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I Am Cuba

 I Am Cuba
type
TVTItem
 I Am Cuba
label
I Am Cuba
 I Am Cuba
page
IAmCuba
 I Am Cuba
comment
Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_content_3'); })I Am Cuba (Soy Cuba) is a 1964 Soviet film set in Cuba, about life in Cuba in the days leading up to the revolution. It was directed by Mikhail Kalatozov (The Cranes Are Flying).The film presents four vignettes of life in Cuba: The first centers around Maria, a young woman from the Havana slums who degrades herself by working as a bar prostitute servicing American tourists and businessmen. The second tells the story of Pedro, a tenant sugar cane farmer who loses everything when his landlord sells the farm and his house out from under him to the United Fruit Company (notorious for its abuses in the Caribbean and Central America). The third features Enrique, a student radical who is pushing for more vigorous resistance against the Batista regime. The fourth is about Mariano, a peasant farmer who rejects the call for revolution, only to suffer a terrible tragedy at the hands of the Batista government.Advertisement:propertag.cmd.push(function() { proper_display('tvtropes_content_2'); })I Am Cuba was a Propaganda Piece meant to portray the cruelty of the capitalist Batista regime and to celebrate the revolution that swept Fidel Castro into power. As a socialist film, it was less than successful. Cubans did not care for the stereotypical portrayal of the Cuban people, and the Soviets felt that it was too arty and not ideological enough. (The Soviets also felt that the portrayal of life in Batista-era Havana might have seemed too much fun.) Consequently, the film was barely released in the USSR and Cuba in 1964, and was not seen at all in the West. Thirty years later it was Vindicated by History when it was re-released, and celebrated mainly for its jaw-dropping camera work that features many, many Epic Tracking Shots and swooping crane shots.
 I Am Cuba
fetched
2020-01-02T23:51:04Z
 I Am Cuba
parsed
2020-06-24T03:05:35Z
 I Am Cuba
isPartOf
DBTropes
 I Am Cuba / int_12628662
type
The Call Knows Where You Live
 I Am Cuba / int_12628662
comment
The Call Knows Where You Live: Mariano refuses an invitation from a soldier to join Castro's army. Immediately after this happens, a government bombing raid kills his son.
 I Am Cuba / int_12628662
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 I Am Cuba / int_12628662
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 I Am Cuba
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I Am Cuba / int_12628662
 I Am Cuba / int_18d15922
type
Title Drop
 I Am Cuba / int_18d15922
comment
Title Drop: First line of the movie, as the narrator is the voice of Cuba.
 I Am Cuba / int_18d15922
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 I Am Cuba / int_18d15922
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 I Am Cuba
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I Am Cuba / int_18d15922
 I Am Cuba / int_1daa7fce
type
In the Back
 I Am Cuba / int_1daa7fce
comment
In the Back: How Enrique's revolutionary friend dies, shot in the back by a cop while being frog-marched away by two other cops.
 I Am Cuba / int_1daa7fce
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 I Am Cuba / int_1daa7fce
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 I Am Cuba
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I Am Cuba / int_1daa7fce
 I Am Cuba / int_25b05c04
type
Hitler Cam
 I Am Cuba / int_25b05c04
comment
Hitler Cam: How Enrique is framed when he's giving a speech to a large crowd. Since the camera is never still in this movie, this then becomes a crane shot where the camera rises to capture Enrique from the opposite perspective, from above and behind.
 I Am Cuba / int_25b05c04
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 I Am Cuba / int_25b05c04
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 I Am Cuba
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I Am Cuba / int_25b05c04
 I Am Cuba / int_2c171242
type
Anthology Film
 I Am Cuba / int_2c171242
comment
Anthology Film: Four stories of life in pre-revolutionary Cuba.
 I Am Cuba / int_2c171242
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 I Am Cuba / int_2c171242
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 I Am Cuba
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I Am Cuba / int_2c171242
 I Am Cuba / int_43a831db
type
Epic Tracking Shot
 I Am Cuba / int_43a831db
comment
Epic Tracking Shot: The film's main claim to fame, as it is filled with epic tracking shots that would individually highlight any other movie. Made more impressive by being done with 1964 technology. Some of the shots were made possible by crewmembers simply handing the camera off to one another. The most famous one starts out with a camera at a rooftop party. The shot goes down a couple of floors of stairs to a hotel pool, then follows a bikini-clad swimmer as she walks to the pool, and then goes under the water with her as she dives. This scene was lifted over 30 years later by Paul Thomas Anderson in Boogie Nights. Another, even more staggering tracking shot starts at street level during Enrique's funeral procession. The camera then rises four floors, then goes through a building, then goes back to the crane shot as the camera leaves the building and continues to follow the procession.
 I Am Cuba / int_43a831db
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 I Am Cuba / int_43a831db
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I Am Cuba / int_43a831db
 I Am Cuba / int_45ce1de7
type
Drive-In Theater
 I Am Cuba / int_45ce1de7
comment
Drive-In Theater: A drive-in is firebombed by Enrique and his fellow radicals.
 I Am Cuba / int_45ce1de7
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 I Am Cuba / int_45ce1de7
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I Am Cuba / int_45ce1de7
 I Am Cuba / int_4856ac40
type
Stock Footage
 I Am Cuba / int_4856ac40
comment
Stock Footage: A newsreel of Batista plays in a drive-in.
 I Am Cuba / int_4856ac40
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 I Am Cuba / int_4856ac40
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I Am Cuba / int_4856ac40
 I Am Cuba / int_51a12a6f
type
Hong Kong Dub
 I Am Cuba / int_51a12a6f
comment
Hong Kong Dub: The first story features some atrociously bad dubbing in the nightclub scene, especially from the singer. The Enrique story also features some very bad dubbing when the American sailors are singing and then talking to Enrique.
 I Am Cuba / int_51a12a6f
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 I Am Cuba / int_51a12a6f
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I Am Cuba / int_51a12a6f
 I Am Cuba / int_52989fee
type
Narrator
 I Am Cuba / int_52989fee
comment
Narrator: Segments are linked by a female narrator that is meant to be the personification of Cuba itself.
 I Am Cuba / int_52989fee
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 I Am Cuba / int_52989fee
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 I Am Cuba
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I Am Cuba / int_52989fee
 I Am Cuba / int_5ef41330
type
Voiceover Translation
 I Am Cuba / int_5ef41330
comment
Voiceover Translation: Some editions of the film have all the English and Spanish dialogue over-dubbed with a Russian voiceover.
 I Am Cuba / int_5ef41330
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1.0
 I Am Cuba / int_5ef41330
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 I Am Cuba
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I Am Cuba / int_5ef41330
 I Am Cuba / int_7a265daa
type
Eagleland
 I Am Cuba / int_7a265daa
comment
Eagleland: Unsurprisingly for a Soviet propaganda film, arrogant, crude Americans exploit the locals economically and sexually. One highlight has the john who patronizes Maria get lost and stumble through the slums. Later, American sailors walk around Havana singing an obnoxious (and fictional) patriotic song, before assaulting and nearly raping a young Cuban woman. She's saved by Enrique.
 I Am Cuba / int_7a265daa
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 I Am Cuba / int_7a265daa
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I Am Cuba / int_7a265daa
 I Am Cuba / int_87b8f581
type
Refusal of the Call
 I Am Cuba / int_87b8f581
comment
Refusal of the Call: Mariano wants to live in peace, and thus refuses an invitation to join Fidel's army. Tragedy makes him change his mind.
 I Am Cuba / int_87b8f581
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1.0
 I Am Cuba / int_87b8f581
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I Am Cuba / int_87b8f581
 I Am Cuba / int_a5f39a9c
type
Thunder = Downpour
 I Am Cuba / int_a5f39a9c
comment
Thunder Equals Downpour: Pedro's story opens with a clap of thunder and an immediate rain shower as he looks over his crops.
 I Am Cuba / int_a5f39a9c
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 I Am Cuba / int_a5f39a9c
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I Am Cuba / int_a5f39a9c
 I Am Cuba / int_a6049c20
type
Disturbed Doves
 I Am Cuba / int_a6049c20
comment
Disturbed Doves: They're sent flying when the cops fire off a warning volley in an attempt to get the audience at Enrique's speech to disperse. A second volley actually shoots one of the doves out of the air, whereupon the film goes super-Anvilicious as Enrique leads a march away, holding the dead dove in front.
 I Am Cuba / int_a6049c20
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 I Am Cuba / int_a6049c20
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I Am Cuba / int_a6049c20
 I Am Cuba / int_ad7a381d
type
P.O.V. Cam
 I Am Cuba / int_ad7a381d
comment
P.O.V. Cam: Another showy camera stunt. When Pedro is hacking away at his sugar cane, the camera yanks back and forth in sync with the blade. Later, as one of Enrique's friends goes plunging off a balcony to his death, the camera spins around as he falls.
 I Am Cuba / int_ad7a381d
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 I Am Cuba / int_ad7a381d
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I Am Cuba / int_ad7a381d
 I Am Cuba / int_b26b3e4b
type
Faux Fluency
 I Am Cuba / int_b26b3e4b
comment
Faux Fluency: The "American" businessmen in the first story speak English with some not-very-convincing accents. The American sailors aren't much better.
 I Am Cuba / int_b26b3e4b
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 I Am Cuba / int_b26b3e4b
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I Am Cuba / int_b26b3e4b
 I Am Cuba / int_c6074d96
type
I Am Spartacus
 I Am Cuba / int_c6074d96
comment
I Am Spartacus: The Mariano sequence begins with three ragged Communist soldiers being captured by government men. An officer demands to know where Fidel is, and all three of them say "Soy Fidel" in turn.
 I Am Cuba / int_c6074d96
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 I Am Cuba / int_c6074d96
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I Am Cuba / int_c6074d96
 I Am Cuba / int_cd0637d2
type
Extra! Extra! Read All About It!
 I Am Cuba / int_cd0637d2
comment
Extra! Extra! Read All About It!: An elderly newspaper boy on a bicycle delivers false government reports that Castro has been killed in the mountains.
 I Am Cuba / int_cd0637d2
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 I Am Cuba / int_cd0637d2
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 I Am Cuba
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I Am Cuba / int_cd0637d2
 I Am Cuba / int_d8d22bb0
type
Dutch Angle
 I Am Cuba / int_d8d22bb0
comment
Dutch Angle: Used repeatedly in the Pedro story as soon as Señor Acosta shows up, riding a horse, to drop the bomb on Pedro.
 I Am Cuba / int_d8d22bb0
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 I Am Cuba / int_d8d22bb0
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I Am Cuba / int_d8d22bb0
 I Am Cuba / int_f67171cc
type
Empathy Doll Shot
 I Am Cuba / int_f67171cc
comment
Empathy Doll Shot: When Mariano's son is killed by a bomb, all Mariano can find is his doll.
 I Am Cuba / int_f67171cc
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 I Am Cuba / int_f67171cc
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I Am Cuba / int_f67171cc
 I Am Cuba / int_name
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ItemName
 I Am Cuba / int_name
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 I Am Cuba / int_name
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 I Am Cuba / int_name
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I Am Cuba / int_name
 I Am Cuba / int_name
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I Am Cuba

The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.

 I Am Cuba
hasFeature
Cuban Media / int_32c3af8c
 I Am Cuba
hasFeature
Disturbed Doves / int_32c3af8c
 I Am Cuba
hasFeature
Drive-In Theater / int_32c3af8c
 I Am Cuba
hasFeature
Epic Tracking Shot / int_32c3af8c
 I Am Cuba
hasFeature
Propaganda Piece / int_32c3af8c
 I Am Cuba
hasFeature
The Call Knows Where You Live / int_32c3af8c
 I Am Cuba
hasFeature
The Oner / int_32c3af8c
 I Am Cuba
hasFeature
"Ugly American" Stereotype / int_32c3af8c
 I Am Cuba
hasFeature
Voiceover Translation / int_32c3af8c