Since we are exactly halfway through the semester, I'd like us to look back on looking back, as it were. I suppose we could get nostalgic about the books that have already gone by...
What I'd like you to do is to choose two works that we have read or seen in this class so far. You may use film or text or both. In a nicely developed paragraph, compare and contrast these works. What do these works have to say about the (Cuban) revolution, (Cuban) exile, nostalgia, or other concepts? Compare and contrast the author's and/or the director's presentation of these ideas. Make sure you choose a logical pair to juxtapose.
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The two works that I chose to discuss are Fidel: The Untold Story and Next Year in Cuba because of the contrasting views and opinions on the revolution and Cuban exiles. Both works discuss the revolution but Fidel: The Untold Story depicts the movement of power to Fidel Castro as a transition from corruption to a fair newly formed socialist government. Next Year in Cuba describes it as a transition from corruption to further corruption. The revolution is what drove Gustavo Firmat’s family in Next Year in Cuba to flee Cuba and escape the cruel government. The introduction in the movie shows large groups of people in New York City cheering on Castro and his government. The book begins with a depiction of a childhood memory of Gustavo and his family leaving on a boat Cuba for America to escape the tyrant and beginning their life as Cuban exiles. The movie refers to these Cuban exiles as gusanos and cowards, and they are looked down upon. However, in the book this exile was described as a forced action to escape the cruel man and his communist government, and it was the only way to keep the family safe.
I am going to compare the film Fidel: The Untold Story and In Cuba I was a German Shephard. These works are very different on the surface in that the film gives a logical story of Fidel's life in a time line fashion and the book is a compilation of short stories. However, both speak of the honest love for one's country. In the film, the viewer sees how innocent Fidel is as a man. Fidel takes the viewer to his grandmothers house; you see him swimming and you see charismatic speeches. The book also has an honest undertone in many of the stories, including the first, which shows four men playing dominoes. However, through these tales, both the film director and Menendez give off a natural feel and true nostalgia for Cuba which allows the reader to understand what exile is really like.
Richard Gott’s chapter, “Castro’s Revolution takes shape, 1953-1961”, and Andy García’s film, The Lost City, both portray the Cuban Revolution in different lights. Gott takes on a factual tone: he provides a detailed account of the events associated with the Revolution from 1953 to two years after Castro took control in 1961. Gott devotes time to describing the major figures involved in the Revolution, such as Ernesto “Che” Guevara. Without delving into his personality, Gott describes Che’s background. García’s film differs in this sense. He creates a fictional family, spending considerable time developing each person’s character. Thus, he invokes within the viewer an emotional attachment to the characters: each event that unfolds appeals to their emotions. The Revolution created in many people strong emotions and feelings that are reflected in The Lost City. This film portrays the lasting effects of the Revolution on the people involved, showing how family bonds broke and that people died proudly for Cuba; Gott’s chapter provides an account removed from emotion, giving only the necessary details about certain people’s lives.
The two works that I will be discussing are The Lost City and In Cuba I Was a German Shepherd. These two works portray the destruction of a culture and family in two very unique ways. The Lost City takes place in Cuba and depicts deterioration in a very subtle and powerful way. On the other hand, In Cuba I was a German Shepherd depicts deterioration of family and culture through the experiences of exiles in Miami. In The Lost City, Garcia shows how a revolution and dissident minds contribute to a loss of family values. In the film Fico's nuclear family is torn into different sectors which led to a death of a family. An example of this is when Roberto, Fico's brother, goes to take his uncle's land away in the name of the revolution. This leads to the death of Roberto's uncle. Death in this scenario symbolizes the end of family bonds and the results of a revolution. In Cuba I Was a German Shepherd shows the deterioration of a family while in exile. This novel depicts how American culture leads to a weaker association with homeland and a slow break up between family relationships. For example when Matilde feel like she is losing her son and only hope to this American woman, Meegan. Matilde states, that this girl comes into his life and acts as if she knew Anselmo her whole life. This all shows the break up of family and culture. The way that these two works compare is that the deterioration of family and culture are all results of the revolution. Another comparison is that these works show how family is central to Cuban culture and what the feelings of Cuban exiles are.
Through all the materials we have studied, especially the documentary Fidel, and film Lost City, I found the vastly contrasting portrayals of Cuba’s revolution and revolutionary leaders to be very interesting. The documentary portrays the revolution as a noble struggle against an entirely corrupt and antagonistic system, while the film portrays the communists as self-serving hypocritical murderers, responsible for ruining the lives of a great deal of Cuba’s population. I feel that these differences highlight how divisive Fidel Castro’s rise to power and subsequent government was and remains. Some people profited greatly from the communist leadership, while others (such as those portrayed in Lost City) lost everything and were forced into exile. I feel that the emotions created by these differing outcomes are a large aspect of modern Cuban identity, and thus constitutes an important part of studying the island.
The two I would like to contrast is Fidel: The Untold Story and In Cuba I was a German Shepherd. Throughout Fidel the viewer watches the more political side of the Cuban Revolution yet it also goes far into Fidel’s own emotional aspect of the Revolution. In Cuba I was a German Shepherd the reader reads the more emotional side of the exiles from the country as seen from a citizen’s perspective. Both works show information on the revolution. In the movie it shows a small part on Elian Gonzalaz, and how Fidel wanted nothing more for him to return to the country, which is an interesting contrast on how in the book the exiled wanted nothing more than to return to Cuba. Also both the book and the movie was high in nostalgia. As Peter mentioned Fidel talked about his love for the country by showing viewers his family home, and in the book each story goes in to some type of background on the feelings of missing Cuba.
The Lost City and Fidel: The Untold story are two examples from in-class that focus heavily on the Cuban Revolution and on Cuban exile. The Lost City is interesting because it is a fictional account of a man’s life from the beginning of the revolution, to the point when he leaves America. Fidel is coming from a different perspective because it is a non-fictional account of the dictator’s life and what he has done to Cuba. In the Lost City, the audience sees how Fidel destroys a family and the corruption of the revolution, while the documentary about Fidel we only see the “good things” he has done for Cuba. In the case of Andy Garcia, the audience sees how he views the Cuban Revolution-a unfortunate event in Cuban history, and life in exile- as something necessary, but he wants to hold on to Cuban culture and life. Garcia allows us see how the actions of one man negatively changed the lives of many people. Brava on the other hand, shows us how the revolution made Cuba better and saved the people.
Andy Garcia’s film, The Lost City and Gustavo Perez Firmat’s book, Next Year in Cuba discuss the Cuban Revolution and the nostalgia of exile in similar, but no the less, different ways. Next Year in Cuba takes a very personal approach. The novel is more or less an autobiography or personal memoire of the author. Firmat discusses his childhood in Cuba, the triumph of the Revolution and his family’s subsequent decision to come to the United States. On the other hand, Andy Garcia takes a different approach in The Lost City. The Lost City is not autobiographically is primarily a work of fiction based on historical events. However, the nostalgia that is portrayed in both works is quite similar. Fico attempts to recreate his Cuba in the United States by means of opening a new nightclub, while Firmat does the same though his constant obsession with remaining as Cuban as possible (smoking cigars, writing in Spanish, traveling to Miami, celebrating Nochebuenas, etc)
In Cuba I was a German Shepherd and The Lost City use similar literary elements in their presentations. The script writer for the movie, The Lost City, was a famous Cuban writer Guillermo Cabrera Infante. Therefore, the movie incorporates a number of literary elements that Ana Menendez also uses in, In Cuba I was a German Shepherd. Despite this similarity, both writers utilize the elements to highlight completely different aspects of the Cuban Revolution and its associated exile. One element common to both pieces is comic relief. In the movie Infante employs the element thorough a nameless supporting actor, “The Writer.” This character remains nameless throughout the entire movie in order to emphasis his role as the main character, Fico’s, conscious. His sarcastic commentary places a stress on the idiocy of an event, which serves the purpose of expressing Fico’s thoughts without excess emotion. Menendez also bestows one character, Máximo, with the ability to express comic relief, whose jokes posse layers of hurt (9). His last display of humor (a joke about Juanito the dog) on pages 27-29 made the connection explicitly clear. Juanito tales symbolizes the transformation Cuban exiles experienced once arriving in America.
I feel that in almost all of the literature we have studied this semester, with the exception of the Castro favored documentary, the authors/ directors have depicted Cuba as a beautiful island before Castro came in and ruined it. In Garcia’s “The Lost City” and Menendez’s In Cuba I was a German Shepherd it is difficult for the Cuban people to move to a new country. “The Lost City” shows us what life really was like in Cuba during Batista’s rule and when Castro took over. The movie does more to tell us how life changed while they were still in Cuba. The book tells us more of how hard the move to America was, and how difficult the change was. Both works display the nostalgic views of exiles. The novel more than the movie, because the novel is based on memories of Cuba, and stories of how the exiles have been mentally affected. Both works clearly express that Cubans love their homeland, and would do anything to be back living under a fair dictator.
The two films, Fidel: The Untold Story and The Lost City, offer vastly different portrayals of Fidel Castro and the Cuban revolution. The two have one similarity, which is that both present ultra-negative views of Batista, the fascist, military dictator who preceded Fidel Castro. The obvious difference between the two is that "Fidel" fails to depict a single negative aspect of Castro's actions. Instead, it focuses more on his personality, and rapidly dismisses the allegations of Castro's suppression of civil rights and liberties in Cuba. "The Lost City," on the other hand, makes these issues a central point of the movie. In fact, there are scenes of torture committed by revolutionary forces that are eerily similar to acts of violence committed by Batista's forces.
One of the main focuses of this class, exile, is hardly touched upon by "Fidel." The Cuban exiles in Miami are dismissed as irrelevant by several of the pro-Castro speakers in the film. In "The Lost City," Fico, the main protagonist, is exiled himself, and the latter portion of the movie deals with his own exile in America. Although it is fiction, "The Lost City" gives a much more fair portrayal of the events in Cuba than does "Fidel," which claims to be a documentary.
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