#1214: KALATOZOV, Mikhail: I Am Cuba (1964)

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KALATOZOV, Mikhail (Cuba)
I Am Cuba [1964]
Spine #1214
Blu-ray


Both a landmark of radical political cinema and one of the most visually ravishing films ever made, this legendary hymn to revolution shimmers across the screen like a fever dream of rebellion. The result of an extraordinarily ambitious collaboration between the Soviet and Cuban film industries, director Mikhail Kalatozov’s I Am Cuba unfolds in four explosive vignettes that capture Cuban life on the brink of transformation, as crushing economic exploitation and inequality give way to a working-class uprising. Backed by Carlos Fariñas’s stirring score, the dazzling camera work by Sergei Urusevsky—an inspiration for generations of filmmakers to follow—gives flight to the movie’s message of liberation.

141 minutes
Monaural
Black and White
in Spanish
1:33:1
Criterion Release 2024

Mikhail Kalatozov was 61 when he directed I Am Cuba.

Other Kalatozov films in the Collection:


The Film

a

Film Rating (0-60):

60

The Extras

The Booklet

Commentary

Video tribute

Documentary 1

Documentary 2

Documentary 3

Controversial altered ending

Theatrical trailer

Extras Rating (0-40):

39

60 + 39 =

By Spine #

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