Havana Connection (1994)

User Rating:

2.1/10   

Director:

Edgar Diaz

Writers:

Mercedes Díaz (writer)
Raymond Hernandez Jr. (writer)

Genre:

Action

Plot Keywords:

Political | Independent Film

Cast

Ronald Aviar	...	Det. Chris Romero
Robert Baldwin	...	Todd Richardson
Christi Bauerle	...	Kerry Mendelson
Danilo Carlos	...	Miguel
David Christopher	...	Dominic
Tom Ferguson	...	Sen. Jordan
Lola Fulin	...	Mercedes
Henry Lawrence	...	Gen. Derek Brown
Henry Lawrence	...	Gen. Derek Brown
Robert Marrero	...	Jose
Frank Marty	...	El Flaco
Coco Ortiz	...	Caridad
Leticia Penta	...	Eliane Ferro
Ed Reardon	...	Jason Mendelson
Judy Reardon	...	Patricia Mendelson
Sonia Smith	...	Dr. Young

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

ALTOGETHER A MESS.

Several scenes in this film feature televised portions of a speech delivered by Fidel Castro as he berates the embargo placed upon Cuba by the United States government in 1962, and his appearances are essentially the only satisfactory moments in a work wherein all other primary elements such as direction, writing, acting, sound and photography are complementary in their cinematic failure to absorb a viewer's attention. A plutocratic assemblage of Miami area based land barons is planning, with assistance from the CIA, to overthrow the Castro government in order to reclaim Cuba for democracy and, of course, to increase real estate holdings of the moguls, but Fidel discovers the scheme and astutely inserts a spy into the ranks of the plotters, an exact duplicate by way of plastic surgery, of one of the conspirators. This is fanciful enough, yet becomes even more so since the kidnapped prototype of the doppelganger is affianced to a nubile blonde with whom the copy shares rather desultory soft porn scenes, but additionally other spies are engaged in the affair as well as local and Federal law enforcement personnel and it becomes actually rather difficult to comprehend motives of the characters. However, dealing with the irreality of the scenario will not be interest to very many due to the movie's low level of production values, including acting that is uniformly inferior, direction that is worse, and asynchronous sound mixing; however, sun-drenched footage shot in Dade County exhibits a lovely quality of light. A voiceover during the conclusion makes a point that the purpose of the film is to expose crimes against humanity committed by Castro and his regime; nonetheless, the Cuban dictator has been in command of his nation for 37 years at the time of the release of this picture; his longevity along with the poor quality of this effort only ensures that Fidel emerges as having a more respectable character than do the characters depicted here.