In so doing, these films inadvertently fuel the nostalgic feelings not only of many Americans and Cubans in the United States who remember the Havana of the 1950s but also of Cubans in Cuba who now reminisce about an era that no longer seems so bad. 4 Buena Vista Social Club gained popular attention in the United States following on the heels of the successful CD of the same name. The film culminates in a concert at Carnegie Hall, and a roaming camera follows members of the band around New York City, registering the seemingly innocent comments of Cubans seeing New York for the first time. The film is clearly the work of an enthusiast. It does not follow the classic documentary style, which attempts to enlighten or inform viewers following a given argument or theme.
Interviews are relaxed and sympathetic, and they stay away from politics.
Indeed, historians will have to fill in many of the details about Cuban music with assistance from other sources. The older generation in Cuba, the majority of them performers before the revolution, thrive despite the country's economic and political decay, seen as the camera roams around Havana and enters into the homes of some of the band members. The failure of the Cuban Revolution, which aimed to eradicate class difference, sexism, and racism, is evident. For many of the musicians, it is as if the revolution never occurred. Shohat takes Hollywood films to task for a neocolonial pattern in which Western protagonists go into a foreign territory and uncover hidden secrets or find treasures hidden from the natives, using indigenous culture as a backdrop.