Bye Bye Havana
8.76
Ratings: 8.76/10 from 90
users.
Nothing has changed. For all Havana's crumbling structures and piles of rubble, its disintegrating roads and toxin-belching jalopies, its plethora of armed policemen and sun-bleached billboards espousing their pat, revolutionary slogans, it attracts over a million pink-skinned, camera-toting, snack-munching mojito-swilling tourists each year.
Cuba stands pummeled by an unworkable socialism and a voracious consumer appetite. What began over 50 years ago seems spent, patriotism or death are simply not enough.
Cubans want other choices, other points of view, and they can't wait any longer. A cinepobre.com co-production - 2010 re-release.
Directed by: J. Michael Seyfert
will Cuba ever change? The timeless nature of this films is a compliment to the film-makers' art.
excellent journalism and a great documentary!
This is a street-level look at Cuba, feels like walking the streets of Havana, very enjoyable yet a bit depressing, had no idea things looked that grim. Sure don't see this one on CNN.
here is something to think about: Since 1964, the neighboring Dominican Republic has been a pro-yankee democracy. it has the largest open pit gold mine, fancy resorts, casinos and ..... POVERTY, PROSTITUTION GALORE, and it is NOT socialist, NOR does it have the famous excuse of an EMBARGO, - the D.R. looks just as disheveled as middle aged Cuba does, IRONY? Cuba is the 5th largest trading partner of the, hey hey hey, U-S-A. cash only, probably coz the Castros have a poor payment record. Castro has 5 - 6 times more employees than General Motors, he rents them out to many counties and pays the professional services provider aka, the poor bloke working as a medic in the amazon or Venezuelan slums, less than 10 cents on the dollar. 2 out 3 men traveling to Cuba go there for the mojaditas, not the mojitos.
This is not even a documentary. All countries have poverty. So does communist China and Cuba. but C'mon, if you want to do a documentary about anything...put a meaning into it. The worst I've ever seen in my entire life!
I love when a documentery shows a **** country and all the spergs rush in to scream BUT MURICA IS BAD TOO!!!111
At least the People can think what they want here, if you were in Cuba and you said you hated the government Castro''s goons would come over and yank your fingernails out
What a biased documentary. It does its utmost to ensure that the viewer solely focuses on poverty of Cuba and for those who have never been to Cuba, one would get the impression that the people are all sad and unhappy and all yearn for the American way. Which is so far from the truth. If we go to the ghettos of America, a exact duplicate of this documentary can be made. When did this documentary not try to show a more balanced view. Focus on the ills of the state and its inherent weaknesses but also show the ideals it has accomplished or tried to....
14 trillion in public debt and counting, suspension of Habeus Corpus, The Patriot Act, Ability of U.S. government to detain and torture its own citizens indefinately, secret rendition, legalized phone tapping of U.S. citizens, illegal wars, nearly 50 million on food stamps, endemic mortgage fraud, endemic fraud in U.S. banking and financial markets. Seems the U.S. isn't much better, least Cuba has free health care lol.
Havana looks like Gaza, minus the bombs.
This is so sad.
T he pope said (Pius XII) said that communism is intrinsicaally wrong. He didn't say that if one is a capitalist that one is always right. He was referring to "equality", which is impossible and unnatural and therefore always a lie. Yet inequality is not necessarily just. It can be most unjust. The horrible lie that gripped Cuba is that private property is always unjust. It certainly can be but that is a moral problem not an economic one.
oops, the film was made in Cuba and by young Cubans, only one foreigner in the crew, and he's a kraut, so what's all this Miami nonsense?
Maybe I'm biased, but I'd way rather take my chances with living in a competitive economy than an equal one. I came to play folks, not sit around and beat drums all day.
'Fidel' americans or english speakers should study their history before making idiotic comments like the one you just made. Socialism, the very useful euphemism for totaliarian communism, was not presented to the cuban people as a choice, it was thrust upon them without any sembleance of choice. What language is speanish? Propaganda? Read granma and tell me that cuba's ONLY newspaper isn't propaganda.
America should resolve their real problems before getting into world of politics. If Cubans want socialism they should have it. The documentary is without subs and i dont speak spanish and dont want to learn speanish just to listen to Propaganda of exiles
communism, capitalism blah blah blah there's no debate to be had we've never had either. the authoritarian state is and always will be.
wondering why the comment is awaiting moderation for so long, since there are no url's. just my lil ole observations.
nice doc, visually, conceptually interesting.
one thing i find funny
there are loads of docs on this site which propound all sorts of far-fetch nonsense, much of which goes utterly un-countered: the mysterious power of water, ufo's, ghosts, truthers, and on and on.
put up a relatively un-varnished doc reflecting the street-level view of havana, which just even hints that the situation there might be complex or problematic, and the truth squad is out in force...
since i dont speak spanish, what the cubanos had to say was lost upon me - but i didnt get the feeling this was any sort of heavy-handed propaganda at all - more of a visual & musical impressionistic take on the beautiful squalor that is havan today, along with some ancient anti-communist drollery.
would be interested in the take of a more knowlegable spanish-speaker who was not over-burdened with an idealogical stake, either for or against, cuba in particular, or latin-american politics in general.
havana probably should not be compared with the rest of latin america. it should probably be compared with south florida, which is what it might have converged upon, if development there had taken an alternative, less rigidly socialist, course.
cuba is SUCH a reaction to its independence from, but nearness to, the yankee super-power. it seems as if that nearness has not been the benefit it should have been - which is largely the fault of the u.s.
its one of the accidents of history that cuba is not a u.s. possession/state. were it not for slavery, it almost certainly would have been long-since annexed.
Didn't stay at a resort or hotel. I stayed with Cuban people (some licensed to have foreign guests, some not). It was during a time for Cubans to take vacations, so maybe that's why I saw so many locals drinking (including a block party for three straight nights in Havana). Maybe they don't usually have much to drink, but neither did I see one starving person.
I roamed Havana and Santiago de Cuba and the countryside/interior between. I saw people who had very little in material wealth, but never saw the level of disease, dirtiness, or outright starvation that I saw in other countries, and much less violence (though prostitution seemed rampant, and I count that as violence).
I'm not saying Cuba is a socialist paradise (or even close). I'm not trying to say communism is good. What I am saying is that Cuba is not a destitute country as depicted by so many Cuban exiles and anti-Castro politicians/businessmen. And I am saying is that the poor in Cuba have it so much better than the poor of the rest of Latin America. Have you been to Bolivia, Ecuador, or Peru? Have you seen the abject poverty of those people? Disease, malnutrition, and starvation rampant in the cities and countryside. Cubans do not lead a life rich in material wealth, but neither do most Latin Americans, and at least the Cubans have good doctors and enough to eat.
I wouldn't trust a politician or a Cuban exile to tell me the truth about Cuba any more than I would expect a member of Castro's cabinet to tell me the truth about Cuba, which is a large part of the reason I went there - so see for myself and talk to the people, rather than have some person with a political agenda try to tell me what it's really like. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but not their own facts.
P.S. I'm not a communist, and I did not get a novia/girlfriend/prostitute while in Cuba - I was already in love. "Sex tourism" is disgusting but Cuba is not the only place where it's done (Dominican Republic and Haiti are big on that as well).
Wouldnt surprise me if this movie was sponsored by bush or bacardi hehehe (or any in between).
Bye Bye Havana successfully paints a colorful and sobering picture of the Cuba that Fidel will leave behind.
granted, it’s a weird film, in that it does not have an opinion or is trying to prove a point on the excessively debated subject of “CUBA”. I love the street-level imagery and the classic characters that as a whole describe a place unique and fascinating in a weird way, – let’s sat with it’s own style.
and Yeah, please post a sub-titled version soon, to silent the
monolinguals.
I am amazed at the crap some pinkies like RyanH type here, you're nuts, especially if you spent more that a weekend in Havana Vieja shaking your mojito-oiled hips with local colour
and then took your instant novia back to a casa particular so
she can feed her baby (with your dolares) after you fade into a socialist dream of Free Bacardi and Great health care for all.
I can't see what the propaganda part of this unique film is supposed to be, and yeah sub titles would be helpfool.
Don't live there anymore, but I was born there! I left in 1966 when castro granted an amnesty. You know nothing ryan h. You have been to cuba? Wow, you did it! Have you been to the interior of the country? Or have you had to use the ration booklet that was instituted by castro in 1960? You saw what the communist government wants all tourists to see. What a misinformed tourist. I go back to give provsions to my family every year since 94! Get your hands out of my pockets
Been to Cuba; don't live there. It's not a paradise, but nor is it anything like hell. I've spent time in Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru, and a month in Cuba. I'm not claiming to be an expert, and Cubans may not be living the high life, but there is nothing approaching the wretched poverty I've seen in the cities and rural areas of other Latin American countries. There's much better health care for the people, as well (unless you're one of the very few rich), and food is not hard to come by (and the people consume their share of rum and beer as well - not starving by any means!).
Been to Cuba; don't live there. But I suspect "bebo" doesn't either. It's not a paradise, but nor is it anything like hell. I've spent time in Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru, and a month in Cuba. I'm not claiming to be an expert, and Cubans may not be living the high life, but there is nothing approaching the wretched poverty I've seen in the cities and rural areas of other Latin American countries. There's much better health care for the people, as well (unless you're one of the very few rich), and food is not hard to come by.