I Am Cuba

I Am Cuba (1964) is Mikhail Kalatozov’s hallucinatory first collaboration with the Cuban film industry, a Soviet-Cuban co-production that unfolds across four vignettes capturing the lives of ordinary Cubans on the brink of revolution. From Havana’s glittering casinos to the shanty towns and sugarcane fields, the film traces stories of desperation, moral struggle, and radical awakening. Maria, a nightclub prostitute, navigates a life of shame and survival; Pedro, a farmer, is forced to destroy his own harvest; Enrique, a student, confronts both fear and political action; and Mariano, a peasant, is driven into rebellion by tragedy.

Narrated by the evocative voice of Cuba, these interwoven episodes chart the transformation of a society under the weight of economic inequality, political oppression, and the revolutionary spirit that will reshape the nation.

The visual language of I Am Cuba remains one of cinema’s most daring achievements. Shot in black and white, with occasional use of infrared film to heighten contrast, the film transforms natural light and landscape into almost surreal textures: sugarcane glows like snow, skies loom dark yet luminous.

Sergei Urusevsky’s camera flows with acrobatic precision - tracking shots move through streets, over bodies, and even into cigar factories in seamless, gravity-defying sequences. Extreme wide angles and close proximity to subjects create intimacy without ever breaking the fourth wall, allowing the audience to inhabit each moment fully. Coupled with Carlos Fariñas’s stirring score and the hypnotic narration, the film becomes a visceral sensory experience, where music, movement, and architecture merge into one continuous emotional arc.

Mikhail Kalatozov, already celebrated for The Cranes Are Flying (1957), brings a bold, visionary approach to I Am Cuba. Commissioned as propaganda but given extraordinary creative freedom by both the Soviet and Cuban governments, Kalatozov treats the camera itself as a revolutionary agent, choreographing each movement with almost architectural precision. Collaborating with screenwriter Enrique Pineda Barnet and composer Carlos Fariñas, he crafts a film that balances spectacle with empathy, portraying the struggles of Cuba’s people without simplification. The director’s method emphasizes human experience and political resonance over conventional narrative, blending poetic realism with technical audacity to create a work that remains unmatched in scope and ambition.

Initially dismissed in both Cuba and the USSR for being too “naïve” or overly artistic, I Am Cuba lay forgotten for decades until its rediscovery in the 1990s by filmmakers like Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola. Today, it is celebrated as a masterclass in cinematography and political storytelling, with restorations ensuring its dazzling black-and-white imagery and hypnotic sequences can be appreciated in their full glory.

Its influence spans generations of filmmakers, while its depiction of pre-revolutionary Cuba offers both a historical document and a poetic meditation on struggle, resilience, and collective action. I Am Cuba stands as a testament to cinema’s ability to merge technical virtuosity with social consciousness, a film that continues to inspire, provoke, and mesmerize audiences worldwide.