Blond view of Cuba a little on the light side

Luis Pena

Don’t let the title fool you, as “Cuba Libre” isn’t a blood bath

about freeing Cuba, but a coming-of-age story set in Holguin, Cuba,

during Fidel Castro’s “revolucion” in 1958.

“Cuba Libre” stars Harvey Keitel, Iben Hjejle, Diana Bracho and

Andhy Mendez.

The Boy (Mendez), whose name is never mentioned, parallels the

changing country he lives in, which starts at the local theater while

he’s watching the film “Julia” (“Julie” is the English title)

starring blond actress Doris Day (I’ll get to the blond hair later).

During a small shootout during “Julia,” the power goes out and the

Boy can’t see the film’s end.

The light in the theater going out and the gunfire in “Julia”

pretentiously foreshadow the rest of the film.

Che (Keitel), the Boy’s grandfather, has a Rick from “Casablanca”

feel to him. He owns a casino and seems to placate the present

Batista regime and Castro’s rebels.

There’s a black minstrel in the town who comes out from time to

time, another foreshadower who shouts out such things as “Because

there is no democracy, there has to be a war.”

The Boy is caught while trying to steal mangos from Julia, the

“gringa” (Hjejle) who lives in a gated home. They befriend each other

and Julia, who happens to be blond and happens to have the same name

as the Doris Day character, becomes the hormonal boy’s confidant. He

shares things with her that he won’t with anyone else, like the crush

he has on a girl named Carmen (Farah Alfonseca). He learns about love

or what he perceives it to be not only from Julia and his crush on

Carmen, but also from his grandfather -- who’s also Julia’s lover,

then death during the bloodiest scene in the film, when his rival

Ricky (Gael Garcia Bernal) commits suicide after shooting two

officers.

Except for a few characters, the film could have used more

development, or a cut in its star-laden cast. It would have been

great to find out why Julia was in Cuba. Did Che bring her over to be

his mistress or was she escaping her own darkness?

The movie tries to be lighthearted and dark simultaneously, but

the light-heartedness dominates, too often leaving the viewer wanting

more.

As history tells us, Castro won the “revolucion,” and soon after

the power, which had been cut off from Holguin, returns and the lives

of those in that small town go on in a new way.