the final struggle
Benigno, Farewell to a RevolutionMarlou van den Berge / Holandsko / 2005 / 55 min.
Marlou van den Berge's documentary is a portrayal of Daniel Alarcón, alias Benigno, „the benevolent“, a man who began life as an illiterate farmer, became a national hero and is now an anonymous exile looking for work in Paris. Benigno joined the Cuban revolutionaries in the late 1950s, after the army had torched his farm and murdered his wife, and fought alongside Fidel Castro and Che Guevara. Once Castro had taken control of Cuba, he was declared a major national hero. His fame was such that a television soap opera was modelled on his life. Meanwhile, Alacrón began to realize that he had become nothing more than a mute passive instrument in the hands of a revered leader. He thus decided to leave Cuba and live in Paris. Today he is but one of a crowd, but has the freedom to express his own opinion. This original and engaging film about gradually sobering up from intoxicating ideals is a collage of interviews with the aging man, commentaries on his life, archival footage and excerpts from the TV soap built around his life, underscored by a very strong visual approach which turns bare facts into artistic meditation. By intertwining the film's various components, the Dutch director creates a documentary about ideals and betrayals, the contrasts between a dictatorial regime and a free Europe, about Cuba and its upheavals, the life of a notorious dictator and the fortunes of an ordinary person who's led a rich life and whose soul is richer still.
Kontakt: sales@vpro.nl, www.vpro.nl
Cuba Libre: El Mayor Deseo
Mateo J. Juez / USA / 2006 / 55 min.
Nearly five decades after the revolution, Cuba remains frozen in time. As the authorities seek to profit from legions of foreign tourists romanticizing its renowned beaches, cigars, rum and rhythms, antoher Cuba – the real Cuba – lives outside the resorts and the nightclubs. It is in the real Cuba that the Varela Project was born. Conceived by Oswaldo José Payá Sardinas, the Varela Project is a petition signed by tens of thousands of Cubans who demand a referendum on vital reforms needed to modernize their country and pull it into the 21st century. „Cuba Libre: El Mayor Deseo“ crosses the tourist boundary through exclusive footage and never-before-seen interviews with Oswaldo José Payá Sardinas and numerous native Cubans. The film explores Cuba’s history from the evolution to the present-day and paints a portrait of an island in flux.
Kontakt: richterscalemedia@yahoo.com
Total Denial
Milena Kaneva / USA / 2005 / 77 min.
Great cultures have always been built on the backs of slaves. Unfortunately, some political strategies don't change, but nor does the will to oppose them. Ka Hsaw, a refugee from Burma now living in neighbouring Thailand, makes trips back into the jungle of his home country in search of villagers from the Karen tribe. Recording their stories and testimonies on camera, he collects evidence against the trans–national oil companies Unocal and Total. These two economic giants annually contribute fifteen million dollars to the Burmese government. Although the corporations' names and logos are posted above the door to every hospital and school, it is clear that the money goes elsewhere. The governing military junta is constantly arming its militia. When we join Ka Hsaw and head for the green mountains, we see the other side of this 'humane' gesture made by the companies' wealthy shareholders. Heliports and mining equipment have replaced the original settlements of the jungle people, who only took enough from their beautiful and almost untouched natural surroundings to enable them to survive. Soldiers torched their houses and took them away to forced labour camps, turning them into modern slaves. Ka Hsaw's courage in filing a lawsuit against one of the biggest global corporations on the planet has inspired people fighting for human rights in other countries, such as Indonesia and Nigeria, to do the same.
Kontakt: mkprod@mclink.it
