Man of 2 Havanas (2007) USA by Vivien Lesnik Weisman

Called “a compassionate documentary” by Christina Vinegas of Latino Cinemedia, a Special Event in the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, it becomes a search for the soul of the filmmaker, Vivien Lesnik Weisman.

In the feature length documentary about her father, the filmmaker narrates the story from her perspective within the family and from her relationship with her father. The first scene lets us know the predicament the filmmaker is in with regard to her father in trying to understand his life and what he has chosen to do with it. She says she just can’t figure out why he is always on the loosing side of his battles.

Man of Two Havanas is nominated for the Social Justice Award in the Fund for Santa Barbara competition. This award is given to films that address social, economic, environmental or political change. The film speaks to the social, economic and political situation in Cuba and certainly that theme permeates the life of the father. He begins as a fighter for the r revolution with Fidel, after they win, the dad decides he doesn’t like some aspects of how their new government is functioning so he leaves Cuba. Though he still loves Cuba, he feels very unsettled and is inspired to fight for the rights of his fellow Cubans in Florida with a magazine called “Replica”. The story grows from there and includes very interesting historical footage and photos of the times – the Bay of Pigs situation and others.

Vivien makes a visit back to Cuba with her father and visits places where he used to hang out. He explains to the daughter the circumstances at the time and how committed he was to doing what he did. Vivien begins to understand the “soul” of Cuba, the strength of the Cuban spirit that her dad feels so passionate about

The bombing of the Cuban Airline 455 in Barbados in the 70’s brings a change to the dad and to his thinking about the US, because the plane was brought down by the CIA as a terrorist act, the first terrorist act of modern times using and airplane. This becomes a turning point in his life. He changes his tactics to focus on re-unification of Cuban families between Florida and the US. Vivien finally understands that her father IS Cuba, and she is his daughter. Now she knows what her goal was in spending so many years making this movie.

When the story begins, we are immediately told the circumstances of the conflict arising from the situation the main character’s daughter, the filmmaker, is in – that she just doesn’t understand why her dad always seems to be on the loosing side of his battles. As the story progresses, the resolution of that conflict starts to evolve. The last half hour of the film, or so it seemed to me, ended three times before it really ended. I kept thinking it was over but Lesnik kept repeating the main point over and over, like we didn’t get it. Otherwise, the movie was very well done and moved along very nicely. I highly recommend seeing it to understand the contradictions in US foreign policy towards Cuba.

Submitted by Dorothy Littlejohn