American freelance journalist and documentarian Jon Alpert
have for over the four decades reported and gathered stories from places like Iran,
Afghanistan, Egypt, Vietnam, Cambodia, China, etc. He has made documentaries
for broadcasting networks like HBO, NBC, and PBS. Jon's latest documentary
venture is an amalgamation of his 40 plus years visits to Cuba, capturing the
island nation’s cultural allure, grand socialist dreams as well as the harsh
realities. Employing cinema verite style of film-making, Jon Alpert’s Cuba and
the Cameraman (2017) distills thousand hours of footage into an enthralling 2
hour documentary, which includes Jon’s semi-regular access to Fidel Castro
himself.
The film opens on the occasion of Fidel Castro’s death
(November 25, 2016), hailed as a great socialist leader in some quarters and
censured as an autocrat by others. Although Jon Alpert covers the big events
surrounding Cuba from the early 1970s to the recent times – Castro’s visit to
United States, the Mariel Bay boat-lift, post-Soviet Union economic crisis, etc
– the documentary’s primary focus lies upon three working-class families, who
are visited once in six or seven years, over Jon’s 45 years of Cuban visits.
Each of the visits subtly convey a lot about the country’s progress (or lack
thereof) and provides a much grounded perspective of the so-called Cuban
socialism. The approach pretty much reminds us of Michael Apted’s landmark 'Up
Series' (which followed the lives of fourteen British children since
1964 when they were seven years old; the last part was 56 Up, released in
2012).
Jon Alpert was one of the few American
journalists to get closer to the complicated socialist leader of Cuba. In the
1970s, he and his crew, including his wife and film-making partner Keiko
Tsuno, took all the state-of-the-art video equipment to Cuba. And, it was all so heavy
that they carried it around Havana in a baby carriage. This is said to have
first caught Fidel Castro’s eye, which allowed Jon to gain his first interview
with the socialist leader. Using his natural charm and persistence, Jon eventually wins over
the leader and happens to be the only American journalist to closely cover
Castro’s 1979 visit to US (for a speech at U.N.). It is initially made clear
that Jon Alpert, like many of us, is drawn by the ideals of Cuban revolution
and Castro’s obscure charm. But soon that first, surface impression gives way
to a more clear-eyed look as Jon begins to acquaint himself with the
working-class families, whose struggles and tenacity mirrors the regime’s
failures and yet the country’s undying spirit. What starts off as a mere romanticized view
of Cuba paves way to an intimate observation of stagnant lives, filtered through constantly evolving
cameras.
Cuba and the Cameraman could be frustratingly apolitical at
times. Jon shows the island nation’s period of heightened political tensions,
shortages and blackouts, yet it’s very short on political commentary. Like many
of the Cubans, who swear fealty to the strict regime, while also continuously
facing the heavy toll of the socialist policies, Jon Alpert partly adores the
Cuban leader and partly mourns for the proletarians’ agonies. Some may find the
documentarian’s apolitical stance as immoral and confusing. Jon does show us
the unguarded Castro in few moments, who is otherwise very mindful
of projecting his strongman image (always dressed in uniform and not seen
without the famous Cuban cigar). However, the genuine personal connection between
Fidel and Jon keeps the harder questions out of the conversation. At its best,
Cuba and the Cameraman is a wonderful personal visual diary, riddled with
spectacular emotional moments.
What makes the documentary a must-watch is the chronicle of
Jon’s long friendship with salt-of-the-earth Borregos’ family. The three farmer
brothers (Cristobal, Gregorio, and Angel) Borregos farm always welcome the
journalist with a beaming smile and a bottle of rum to mark the occasion. Jon
first meets the brothers when they are in their 60s. They happily work on the fields,
raise livestock, and always win over Jon in arm-wrestling matches. The encounters
consistently happen for more than 30 years, and in the intervening years the
old peasant brothers face numerous troubles. This depicts the real consequences
of U.S.-led blockade and the fall of the Socialist bloc in 1990s. Moreover, the
country's free yet gravely under-funded, under-equipped healthcare system is
scrutinized much closely. Jon also follows two families in Havana city: Luis,
from his days as young working man to political prisoner to his eventual turn
as pioneering businessman; and the family of Caridad, a bright schoolgirl who
once dreamt of being a nurse but gets married at tender age of 14 and the tough
times eventually pushes her towards American shores. Alongside the visual document of
these families’ plight, the camera also tours around the broken, unchanging
corners of Havana.
Jon Alpert largely considers his travels as a means of
‘making friends’. Considering the fraught US-Cuba relations in the past decades,
his achievement couldn’t be easily dismissed just because of the lack of staunch
political stance. The ground-level portrait of the people and the country,
enlaced with relentless curiosity and exuberance, mostly resist our urge to
complain. Most particularly, Cristobal and his brothers’ perseverance and their smile
bestow an everlasting impact on us. The brothers’ ability to find beauty and
happiness in the simplest things makes up for the documentary’s vibrant heart. And,
whenever they are swamped with problems and after hearing their news of demise,
genuine tears wells-up our eyes, much more than Cuban mourners filling the
streets after Castro’s death, chanting, “Yo
soy Fidel!” That in
itself -- the ability to look beyond Castro’s long shadow cast over Cuba -- is
a great triumph of ‘Cuba and the Cameraman’.
Trailer
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