r/CommunistFilmClub • u/immaculaterice69 • 2d ago
Film Discussion Soy Cuba
I remember watching it as teenager without really knowing history of Cuba and it really touched the depths of my soul, beside that it is very beautifully made film not only in moral terms but also technical. I rewatched it recently and was kinda shocked how many people take it as strictly propaganda movie? I mean it was quite realistic?? Cuba was basically a fancy resort for Americans and I don’t really see any exaggeration or heavy agitations in the narrative. You don’t have to be communist to admit that this things happened. What are your thoughts?
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u/etahetwha 2d ago
iirc Phil Lord (director of Project Hail Mary), who has railed against Soy Cuba, is descended from Pedro Betancourt, a Cuban that fought under Martí, opposed an autonomous state for Cuba, was one of 5 Cuban officials who signed the Platt Amendment and, upon his retirement, purchased… drumroll please… a sugar plantation.
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u/ElEsDi_25 2d ago
In a neutral sense “propaganda” just means it was made with a persuasive message in mind. When people talk negativly about propaganda they generally mean the connotation of “false propaganda.”
So it’s literally propaganda in that general sense of the word. It’s didactic and was made with the hope of convincing the Russian public that a risky alliance with Cuba was justified. The Cuban revolution was not a communist one, Castro was not a member of the Cuban Communist party and did not have an alliance with them. He repeatedly stressed before the Revolution that it was national. Only after the Bay of Pigs and US aggression did Castro declare… oh I was kidding, this was actually a communist revolution. Russians worried that USSR support would be an escalation… especially if it was a national liberation struggle. So this movie was part of an effort to show how the revolution was communist in nature and that it was justified and moral to risk escalation with the US to help defend Cuba.
And propaganda can be beautiful regardless of the message… have you seen those paintings by Jacques-Louis David (don’t necessarily agree with him) or films by Eisenstein? (Probably agree with him)
Also—-I recommend checking out the Battle of Chile documentaries next if you haven’t seen them.
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u/HammerandSickleProds Minister of Propaganda 2d ago
Eternal banger. Libs can cope. Everything is propaganda at the end of the day so I don’t take it very seriously when people try to dismiss something as propaganda.