Life is to Whistle (1998)
"La vida es silbar" (original title)

Three characters in present-day Havana must choose between clinging to their self-restricting beliefs, or getting rid of them to live more freely. Ballerina Mariana has promised God ... See full summary »

Director:

Fernando Pérez

Writers:

Humberto Jiménez, Fernando Pérez,

Stars:

José Andrade, Maudelet Badia, Elena Bolaños

17 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
José Andrade	...	Obrero Teatro
Maudelet Badia	...	Odalisca 2
Elena Bolaños	...	Anciana Asilo
Rolando Brito	...	Dr. Fernando
Alina Canizares	...	Profesora 1
Leandro Carfuso	...	Elpidito
Ines Maria Castillo	...	Cuba Valdes
Ileana Chávez	...	Secretaria 1
Michaelis Cue	...	Hombrecito
Annieye Cárdenas	...	Desmayados
Miguel A. Daranas	...	Director Asilo
Aramís Delgado	...	Vigon
Aimeé Despaigne	...	Profesora 2
Madeleine Garcia	...	Secretaria 2
Luis Alberto García	...	Elpidio Valdes

Storyline

Three characters in present-day Havana must choose between clinging to their self-restricting beliefs, or getting rid of them to live more freely. Ballerina Mariana has promised God celibacy if she gets the role of "Giselle"; Social-worker Julia always faints after hearing a certain word; and pot-smoking percussionist Elpidio was abandoned by his mother, coincidentally named Cuba, some time ago and has not yet gotten over the loss.

---

Plot Keywords:

dance | psychologist | havana cuba

---

Taglines:

Tres historias, tres personajes y un fin común: la búsqueda de la felicidad en La Habana de hoy.

---

Genres:

Drama

---

Details

Country:

Spain Cuba

Language:

Spanish

Release Date:

18 June 1999 (Spain)

Also Known As:

Life is to Whistle

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$7,846 (USA) (7 January 2000)

Gross:

$63,574 (USA) (10 November 2000)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Instituto Cubano del Arte e Industrias Cinematográficos (ICAIC), Wanda Films, Wanda Visión S.A.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

106 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Featured in La vida es filmar (1998)

User Reviews

Cerebral, unusual Cuban film

Even as Cuban films go, LA VIDA ES SILBAR, a festival-circuit darling from Berlin to Havana throughout 1999, is unusual. Not political (great!), not driven by a single plot, and exploring themes such as religion and mysticism, the film deals with present-day Cuban life for the lucky few in the intellectual artistic milieu. Having said that, situations confronting this segment of Cuba's population are realistically portrayed and again without an obvious political agenda. The movie inspires a spirit of hope (very needed to survive in Cuba) through a budget production which is in itself a statement of Cuba's film industry and indeed its economy. Though the film is not really accessible to most viewers, even among the "arthouse" crowd, I would definitely recommend it to Latin American film buffs well versed in Cuban cinema.