Soy Cuba

Soy Cuba offers a variety of illustrations that help the viewer better understand how Cuba was inevitably led into revolution by 1959. The movie takes the viewer into several different sectors of the Cuban society before the revolution so the viewer is able to witness the economic and social consequences that came about from the policy making by the pre-revolutionary government. The movie concludes with the soon-to-be revolutionary forces advancing into Havana.

The first scene in the movie symbolizes the relationship between the United States and Cuba before the revolution. In the scene, American businessmen are enjoying an inexpensive evening at the expensive of the poor and desperate Cuban women. The Cuban nationalist saw American interests in Cuba that were made possible by president Batista as nothing more than imperialistic ambitions on their country. The American businessmen were portrayed as conceited, careless and who pursued their interests without concern for the cost of any Cuban’s wellbeing. The first scene exposes the negative effects in urban areas that developed from Batista’s economic relationship with the United States.

The next part of the movie takes the viewer into the agrarian part of Cuba. Its not surprising that the movie takes the viewer to a sugar cane farm since that was once the backbone of the economy. The effects of Batista’s economic policies were felt throughout all of Cuba, from the industrial urban sectors to the agrarian sector. President Batista was essentially selling out Cuba to eager buyers within the United States. The scene shows the effects of Batista’s economic policies in the agrarian sector when an old peasant farmer was told he had to leave his land. Like the first scene, that showed the economic effects towards joblessness and a low standard of living in the urban areas, the second scene further exposes the social injustices that occurred in the agrarian sector because of the United States capitalist interests.

The last scene of the movie shows how all encompassing the revolutionary movement was in Cuba. A revolutionary, and previous student, came upon a house in the mountains and stopped to rest. The owner of the house kicked the revolutionary out because he wanted peace and he felt that the revolutionaries were threatening peace. However, after the homeowner and his family had bombs dropped on their home and they lost a son, the man joined the revolutionaries. The scene shows how even completely independent people, that had no direct concern with social or economic policies, were also part of the revolution in Cuba.