"I Am Cuba is a cinephile's wet dream, a collage of Herculean feats of technical wizardry that would be easy to dismiss if it wasn't so humane." - Ed Gonzalez

Blunt, broad propaganda in the form of melodrama, but infused with such a revolutionary, energetic spirit that it never becomes obnoxious (though I would say the third vignette was a bit heavy-handed). And what amazing, brilliant, bold, eye-popping technique. One of the absolute towering achievements in cinematography, bar-none.

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As everyone else in their right mind has said and will say, this is stunningly beautiful. It is a bit heavy handed, but frankly not more than one would expect for series of stories of snippets from pre-revolutionary Cuba as the tension mounts and the eve of the revolution arrives. If the second half had been a little shorter it'd be perfect, as is it gets a bit repetitive towards the end but still very compelling.

The first half is for the most part a very moving and not too far off devestating portrait of the situation. However the patriotism in the second half, effectively acting as a call to arms, soured the experience for me. As a result on a storytelling level the first half is far superior to the second - more engaging, more effective and less annoying. Based purely on cinematographic grounds however I am Cuba is perfection - this features some of the most thrilling camerawork you will ever see.

I'm glad there aren't too many films like this to rank because it's hard to come up with a balanced rating for a film that has an insane disparity between writing and production values.

#481

Sick tracking shawts dawg

Mikhail Kalatazov enslaves the camera and bends it to his insane, bizarre and brilliant will. This is motion. Each section is completely unique in its approach to the narrative, and succeeds every time in astounding fashion. From the weird meandering look at the sleazy Americans, to the tragic (and triumphant! Jesus, this movie) march towards armed conflict, this whole thing is so eclectically delectable. It's yet another classic bred by the uniqueness of Soviet cinema in the 50s and 60s.

Beautiful propaganda.

The film that almost turned me into a communist. It's that good.

Technically is great, the use of the camera, the implication we feel thanks to it. But only the first half of this movie really works in the narrative aspect. Then, for the last two plots it's still great technically, and have great punctual scenes, but has no implication and looks just like the propaganda it is. There's a big difference in that aspect and really spoils the movie for me.

A lush, poetic propaganda piece, conceived in virtuoso cinematography -- every shot in the film is like a little miracle...

Let's get down to business: No matter how much praise you've heard of this movie's cinematography, the astonishing long-takes in this are likely to floor you. They easily live up to the hype. I'm probably rating Kalatozov's very accomplished film too low, considering his great ambition and skill, but that's simply because the loosely plotted story and political statements are of little interest to me, personally. But make no mistake, this is absolutely essential viewing.

Amazing cinematography - makes today's cinematographers seem obsolete.

I Am Cuba takes the camera and throws it around in the air. Filled with long shots and acrobatic cinematography, I am legitimately puzzled as to how some of these shots were achieved in a single take. The stories in the film as well hold up strong, making the film an overall great movie.

# 748

It felt a little long at some points but it surely made me want to visit Cuba now.

The cinematography is perfect.

Gorgeous, stunning cinematography. The camera does things that will make your jaw drop. Unfortunately the stories suffer from heavy-handed politics. It's honestly not all that bad (all the stories except for maybe the last one have some narrative depth and interesting characterization), but there's definitely a huge drop in storytelling quality from The Cranes are Flying.

Pure propoganda, with four stories presenting different stages of revolution. It's not as ridiculous as Vertov's Three Songs of Lenin, but it's definitely not an even-handed film. You might as well watch it with the subtitles off, because what's dazzling about I Am Cuba is the phenomenal photography. As in The Cranes Are Flying, Kalatozov and Urusevsky do astonishing things with a camera. They go a little overboard with the dutch angles, but otherwise it's a wonder to behold.

Although it reduced the power of montage with long takes this one still has that unique Soviet vision of 30's. And it's a great experience. Even though it's a hard core propaganda film you never get annoyed.

Best cinematography of all time? Certainly the best I've ever seen, by a wide margin. Easily a 10 out of 10 for the technical achievement. But then there's the content. The first two segments are heart-breaking and probably quite realistic, but in the second half the propaganda gets a bit much. On the whole, I'd say the first half is a 9 and the second half is a 7, which makes a (9+7)/2 = 8. Once again, math is victorious. Viva la math!

I Am Cuba, directed by Mikheil Kalatozishvili, is a joint Soviet/Cuba propaganda film shot during the 1060s and lost into obscurity until famous American directors Martin Scorcese and Francis Ford Coppola rescured the film from oblivion. The film is a masterpiece of the cinema with some of the most breathtaking long takes ever captured on film and follows the lives multiple characters during the capitalist period of Batista Cuba.

I don't mind if this is communist propaganda or not, this is amazing, frame after frame, a masterpiece! And it strikes you like a punch on the face. A propósito, seria bom que os fanáticos por Glauber Rocha aprendessem que isto sim é Cinema de verdade...

Ok, it's pure propaganda, but man, it makes you feel like "Jesus, Cinema is just great!".

The 80/100 is for cinematography alone. This is one of the most visually stunning films I have ever seen, but the communist propaganda got tiresome and distracting by the end. As I recall, the storylines that didn't deal heavily with politics were all interesting, but unfortunately they're not what stuck with me.

I'm like, "No way!" These crazy Russians and their magic cameras. Propaganda/drama/documentary/performance art, I am Cuba proudly and impressively blurs all the lines. The Rus/Cuban abandoned love-child has been rediscovered for us cinematography fetishists' perennial pleasure.

Maybe one of the best visual movies ever! And it going by hand with many stories but one or two ruined perfect row...

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