Viva Cuba (2005)

In a tale akin to Romeo and Juliet, the friendship between two children is threatened by their parents' differences. Malu is from an upper-class family and her single mother does not want ... See full summary »

Directors:

Juan Carlos Cremata Malberti, Iraida Malberti Cabrera

Writers:

Juan Carlos Cremata Malberti, Manuel Rodríguez

Stars:

Malú Tarrau Broche, Jorge Milo, Luisa María Jiménez Rodríquez

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Malú Tarrau Broche	...	Malú
Jorge Milo	...	Jorgito (as Jorgito Miló Ávila)
Luisa María Jiménez Rodríquez	...	Jorgito's Mother
Larisa Vega Alamar	...	Malú's Mother
Lieter Ledesma Alberto	...	Police officer
Sara Cabrera	...	Malú's grandmother (as Sara Cabrera Mena)
Pavel García Valdés	...	Espeleolog
Albertico Pujols Acosta	...	Jorgito's Father
Juan Carlos Cremata Malberti	...	Antique Car Driver
Abel Rodríguez	...	Malú's father (as Abel Rodríguez Ramírez)
Eslinda Núñez	...	Blind woman (as Eslinda Núñez Pérez)
Manuel Porto	...	Cab driver
Luis Alberto García	...	Espeleolog (voice)
Andy Luis Marquez Alvarez	...	Amiguito
Orlandito Poll Pomares	...	Manolito

Storyline

In a tale akin to Romeo and Juliet, the friendship between two children is threatened by their parents' differences. Malu is from an upper-class family and her single mother does not want her to play with Jorgito, as she thinks his background coarse and commonplace. Jorgito's mother is a poor socialist that is proud of her family's social standing. She places similar restriction on her son. What neither woman recognizes is the immense strength of the bond between Malu and Jorgito. When the children learn that Malu's mother is planning to leave Cuba, they decide to travel to the other side of the island to find Malu's father and persuade him against signing the forms that would allow it.

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Plot Keywords:

children | friendship | cuba | escape

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Details

Official Sites:

Epicentre Films [fr] Official site

Country:

France Cuba

Language:

Spanish

Release Date:

11 October 2006 (France)

Also Known As:

Viva Kuba

Company Credits

Production Co:

Quad Productions, DDC Films LLC, TVC Casa Productora

Technical Specs

Runtime:

80 min 80 min 80 min

Color:

Color

User Reviews

Uttering charming

This is a wonderful, engaging movie. The movie is completely carried by two ten year old child actors. We see the world completely through their eyes. They are both cute as monkeys, and charming as all get out. They both have expressive faces and lively bodies that constantly surprise and entertain. I was instantly charmed and instantly taken in to care intensely that all should work out for them.

We see the adults through the children's eyes, mainly as people to interfere with fun and who are cruel for no reason.

The movie is in Spanish with subtitles. This causes some problems, the two mothers look much alike and behave much alike, though one is a snobbish Catholic and the other a snobbish Communist. I found it hard to keep track of who was saying what.

The two children, even though one is a boy and one a girl, have similar sounding voices. I often got confused trying to figure out which of the two said what.

The story is largely about their adventures running away to find the girl's father. Almost like the fairy tale The Snow Queen, they meet all manner of eccentric characters on the way.

There a few corny/hammy scenes, where the director told the kids to do something that adults think kids do, but they would never do, like hold hands and skip or shake hands. Their never-speak-again fight vaporised a bit too quickly for my credibility.

As the movie progresses, I kept wondering what plot device could possibly be used to bring this story to a requisite sunny end. I could not think of one. Neither could the writers. They stuck on very strange ambiguous ending. I left me saying What the? It is very unsettling. These lovable kids deserved a happy-ever-after.

Maybe the director wanted the kick the squabbling parents in the teeth for their self-centredness.