Cuban Blood
The specter of revolution hovers over a small Cuban town in 2003'sCuban Blood, director Juan Gerard's first (and, to date, only) feature. Veteran and versatile actor Harvey Keitel, whose involvement clearly helped get the picture made, plays the charismatic Che (no, notthatChe), a big fish in the small pond that is Holguin, a picturesque spot that's relatively removed from the pro-Castro, anti-Batista rebellion sweeping the country in 1958. But when the rebels knock out the town's electrical power in the opening scene, an outage that lasts a full year, things start to get a little hairy, and Che and his family (including his grandson, clearly a stand-in for Gerard himself) face some major choices and changes. Granted, it's hardly the most original movie ever made. The use of a seemingly crazy homeless man (played by Georg Stanford Brown) as a prophetic Greek chorus is not an uncommon device; and as several critics have noted, echoes of other movies abound, fromCinema ParadisoandCasablancatoRebel Without a Causeand more. In fact,Cuban Bloodwas itself formerly known asDreaming of Julia, a reference to both the film that's playing in the local cinema when the power goes out and to the real name of the enigmatic "La Gringa," the only American in town (actress Iben Hjejle is actually Danish, though you'd never know it from her perfect, unaccented English). In the end, the promotional material's claim that it's "a star-studded adventure in the tradition of (Sergio Leone's epic)Once Upon a Time in America" is hyperbolic in the extreme. Nonetheless, this film--sometimes amusing, sometimes dramatic, both heartwarming and sad, sentimental but not overly so--will appeal to viewers of all ages.--Sam Graham