7 Days In Havana [DVD]

On a recent family visit to Belgium, I noticed this movie was playing in the theatre. I had never heard of the movie, and it certainly hasn't gotten any publicity of any kind in the US, but the little info that I knew of it was enough for me to take a chance on this. Am I glad I did!

"7 Days in Havana" (2012 Spanish/French/Cuban co-production; 129 min.) brings 7 seemingly independent short fims. brought by 7 different directors, each protraying a different day of the week. The first story, "El Yuma" is likely to get the most attention as it stars Josh Hutcherson (of The Hunger Games) and also marks the directorial debut of Benicio Del Toro, but honestly, as okay and superficially fun this story is, it pales with the rest of the movie and for me is probably thte weakest of the entire bunch. "Jam Session" is what you think it might be: a story culminating into Cuban musicians jamming until the wee hours of the night, just great. "La Tentation de Cecilia" (The Temptation of Cecilia) is a cleaver story about a young female singer tempted to take an offer to sing in Europe. Cecilia is in fact the only character who returns later in the movie in another chapter (hence my reference to "seemingly independent" earlier). As the movie goes on, the stories becomes more and more left-of-center and somehow getting better and better. My favorite piece is the very last one "La Fuente" (The Source), which brings it all home: the people, the poverty, the cohesiveness, the music.

I really enjoyed this movie a lot more than I expected to. There are many observations of the life ordinary in Havana which you can laugh or cry at, but will not leave you unmoved. And as mentioned before, the music is hugely important in this film, so if you are not a music fan, this probably isn't for you. If on the other hand you enjoyt a good foreign movie with intruiging characters and great music, then this is surely for you. "7 Days in Havana" is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

This is seven different aspects of life about Havana, told in seven days or chapters and theyare sort of linked. We have varying styles as different directors did each piece including Benicio del Toro. There is also an appearance from a quite drunk Emir Kusturica - a legendary director in his own right such as `Black Cat White Cat' and I must say he was as excellent as ever.

The quality of the segments does vary as with the styles but there are themes that emerge and keep coming back, the music being the strongest. There are the ubiquitous fifties American cars that are completely at odds with the Russian Lada's. The falling down splendour of some of the old buildings and the crammed in squalor are only hinted at, this though is not Cuban propaganda as it shows the food shortages, power cuts, and annoying announcements on the radio about tedious issues that Communists seem to think really important, like the egg production quota - a news flash indeed.

We also have transvestites, baseball, sex, Daniel Bruhl being Spanish, interminable Castro speeches, voodoo and lots of community spirit and love. It is over two hours long so I watched in two sittings and was not bored but this still is a mixed bag and only just gets the four stars. If you know little about Cuba you will know more by the end but still be in the foothills of learning, but I felt this was more of a tableau rather than a guide so was not at all bothered about that. It is in Spanish with some English and Serbian, and some dialogue is not sub titled but I felt that was on purpose. If you like all things Hispanic then you will get something worthwhile out of this unusual film.

It is a fairly good movie of a tourists experiences of Havana. Nothing more.

What more can I say.

Regards