Havana Connection (1994) User Reviews

In my own defense...

[qtprof · 20 August 2008]

THIS WAS NOT the story I wrote. Okay, so what I wrote wasn't Shakespeare--just a simple love story about a guy sent to the U.S. to spy and out of honor and love for an American babe (yea, U.S.!), he decides to do the right thing and abandon his original mission. (If you don't believe it happens, search the "miami 5" case from the 90s on the internet and you'll see how plausible some things can be.) THIS is what happens when some know-nothing political hack from Miami with a little cash comes along and convinces the executive producers to interfere with the story so it can be politicized. Those of us who originated and wrote the story walked away from it after the first few scenes were shot because we were working with CRAZIES. We hope to do better with our next effort. MD

ALTOGETHER A MESS.

[rsoonsa · 1/10 · 13 April 2004]

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.