February 12, 2007
Andy Garcia's Lost City
We watched a soulful, even poetic movie on DVD this weekend: Andy Garcia's labor of love, The Lost City. Garcia painstakingly recreates life in Havana, Cuba in the late 1950s, first under the punishing dictator Batista and then under the Communist tyrant Fidel Castro and his brutal henchman, Che Guevara.
Working from a script by novelist Guillermo Cabrera Infante, Garcia spent sixteen years on the project. The result received little respect from critics, but much more enthusiasm from Cuban-Americans.
We enjoyed the imaginative blend of music, dance, scenery and family drama, but even more the vivid glimpse into a period of history that seems to be now little known and little remembered by most Americans. Among other virtues, The Lost City is an antidote to deluded romanticism about Che.
Check it out if you can.
More info:
• NPR - 'Lost City,' Andy Garcia's Homage to Havana
• National Review - Don’t Let This Movie Get Lost - Andy Garcia’s ode to Cuba y libertad.