The Lost City - Short in quality but BIG in FACTS!
First I am gonna eat crow ( I am getting to do this a LOT lately) and congratulate Andy Garcia for having the COJONES not to bow down to the interpretation that the USA media (and most of the USA) have about pre-KaSStro Cuba
I have been a gnat on Garcia's ass for 2 years so as of this moment I am letting him be not only with a profound apology but with a big THANK YOU BUD!
I have not seen the movie , but people from left and right (and a lot of Cubans) say the movie AS a movie is just NOT good. Again I will come to that conclusion when I see it BUT..
The historical facts of the movie are RIGHT on the nose.
Our infatigable buddy Humberto Fontova has a wonderful article today on NewsMax.com defending the accuracy of Garcia’s facts in the movie. Not only that; he picks , reviewer after reviewer criticisms and whacks them like a bulldozer tenderizing a piece of cheap meat
It never ceases to amaze me how the USA in general had bought the KaSStrist version of pre-KaSStro Cuba without doing a ounce of investigative reporting. Whatever KaSStro said at the time was the truth, and when the REAL truth comes out on a film 47 years later they poo-poo it as Anti-KaSStro propaganda.
What the FUCK does Rex Reed know about Cuba to even comment about the events of 1958~1959 .
Now since there is a REALLY good possibility that the movie is not the best flic you ever saw in your life, this of course will affect the veracity of the FACTS. We can all hear the MSM bashing the movie for its artistics merits and that (by proxy) will taint the veracity of it very factual content.
I encourage EVERYONE to respond to the media’s discrediting of the historical accuracy of the movie by emphasizing that although the movie may not be the greatest piece of film ever , as a documentary of what Cuba was in 1958 ~ 1959 is RIGHT ON TARGET
Please – take a look at Humberto Fontova’s article, It will give you PLENTY of ammunition
Movie Critics Aghast at Andy Garcia's 'The Lost City' by Humberto Fontova
PS - And before I go to the critic who mentioned we practice Voodoo in Cuba - You happen to top the list of imbeciles who think that as long as you’re an island in the Caribbean , all our customs are interchangeable.
“Jane you ignorant slut!
I have been a gnat on Garcia's ass for 2 years so as of this moment I am letting him be not only with a profound apology but with a big THANK YOU BUD!
I have not seen the movie , but people from left and right (and a lot of Cubans) say the movie AS a movie is just NOT good. Again I will come to that conclusion when I see it BUT..
The historical facts of the movie are RIGHT on the nose.
Our infatigable buddy Humberto Fontova has a wonderful article today on NewsMax.com defending the accuracy of Garcia’s facts in the movie. Not only that; he picks , reviewer after reviewer criticisms and whacks them like a bulldozer tenderizing a piece of cheap meat
It never ceases to amaze me how the USA in general had bought the KaSStrist version of pre-KaSStro Cuba without doing a ounce of investigative reporting. Whatever KaSStro said at the time was the truth, and when the REAL truth comes out on a film 47 years later they poo-poo it as Anti-KaSStro propaganda.
What the FUCK does Rex Reed know about Cuba to even comment about the events of 1958~1959 .
Now since there is a REALLY good possibility that the movie is not the best flic you ever saw in your life, this of course will affect the veracity of the FACTS. We can all hear the MSM bashing the movie for its artistics merits and that (by proxy) will taint the veracity of it very factual content.
I encourage EVERYONE to respond to the media’s discrediting of the historical accuracy of the movie by emphasizing that although the movie may not be the greatest piece of film ever , as a documentary of what Cuba was in 1958 ~ 1959 is RIGHT ON TARGET
Please – take a look at Humberto Fontova’s article, It will give you PLENTY of ammunition
Movie Critics Aghast at Andy Garcia's 'The Lost City' by Humberto Fontova
PS - And before I go to the critic who mentioned we practice Voodoo in Cuba - You happen to top the list of imbeciles who think that as long as you’re an island in the Caribbean , all our customs are interchangeable.
“Jane you ignorant slut!
11 Comments:
My very non-Cuban and hard to please husband thinks it's a great film, and I agree with him. We are going to see it again. One of the things that really grabbed me was how un-apologetically Cuban the movie is. Go see it KC, I don't think you'll be disappointed
I saw the film Saturday night. It's really a tale of two halves. The first half is long and drawn out. A lot of the dialogue in the beginning is stilted. There's a lot of scenes of Andy's character falling in love with his brother's widow. They could have cut that in half. It's like "OK we get it, they are falling in love." But the second half of the movie is very good. From a historical perspective Garcia made a near perfect film. He shows how the Batista regime left a lot to be desired and that many were against it but that Fidel hijacked the revolution for his own purposes. The movie can in no way be described as pro Batista. With some more editing this could be a really really good movie. Right now it's only good. But the cinematography is beautiful and so are the costumes. Overall I give it a B.
i wouldnt go so far as saying its short on quality. Its not, its short on time to do Cabrera Infante's novel justice.
When you write a screen play and submit it to a studio, the first thing they do is flip to the very last page, if it's numbered over 120, it gets dumped. Each page is one minute of film and the model for the standard movie is 2 hours or less.
I persoanlly think that The Lost City could have been much better only because it didnt have the time to give the whole story.
Val, that was brought up during the Q/A I was privileged to attend. If I heard correctly, one of the actors is working on a screen play of "Against All Odds", as almost a sequel to "The Lost City". I suggested "Unvanquished", which was for me a life changing read. The problem is the real story of Cuba has not been brought to the screen, and so like you, I felt I could have watched hours more while the critics were complaining that it was too long. Imagine how wonderful an honest Cuban mini-series could be. That would really once and for all end the "myth" that so many believe is Cuba.
Whether a is movie good or not is such a subjective thing that I shouldn’t even have mention “quality” in the subject line (uppercut to my own jaw) but what I have read, and have told by people who have seen it (and I am talking GUSANASOS) is that it is a bad movie on many aspects. Of course again I may LOVE the damn thing
But as I understand it the movie was made in 35 days and the shooting on location. Garcia wore too many hats in this thing, and some are accusing him of being self indulgent with his own screen time.
I am not a movie critic (hell NO movie critic should be a movie critic) but there are certain technical aspects of a movie that smack you in the face as “this is bad”
Apparently the editing on “Lost City” is atrocious. It HAD to be. If you film for 35 days, on location what is your edit time; a week?
Now you mention the movie is short on time, and from what I have read and heard is WAY too long. On the basis of a 10 million budget I would GUESS it is too short.
Listen, any work of art , regardless of the media will be shredded to bits by the public and the artist be damned. Would 20 more minutes have made a difference? Who knows? Would Andy delegating direction to someone else made a difference? who knows. To ME the MOST IMPORTANT fact is that the truth of the period is told and it smacks The Beast RIGHT on his cirrhosis spotted face. Just on that I know I WILL like the movie.
You all KNOW I am not an Andy Garcia fan, I don’t think he is an exceptional actor. Since you never know what to expect from him Modigliani was the worst piece of shit I ever saw in my life, but he shone on "Elysians Fields" BUT….. he took a chance of 10 million good ole USD $ to tell our story, if it doesn’t work at an artistic level well, Spielberg has had his bombs but to US Cubans it is a deconstruction of every lie KaSStro has been repeating for 47 years, so on THAT alone, not only will I see the movie but I will buy the DVD (and give a few out for xmas) because I want Mr. Garcia to recoup some of his money and I think every Cuban owes him at least THAT!.
Well said kc!!!
I would love for those Cubans bad mouthing the movie to do something to expose the true like he did, instead of llenarse la barriga de popcorn y hacerse los mas sabios del mundo.
SOME PEOPLE WILL CRITIZED EVEN THE WAY ANYONE TAKES A DUMP!
Not only see it and buy it to support Mr. Garcia, but to help create a market for the next Cuba movie, made by a Cuban that tells the truth.
Just the fact Mr. Garcia finally succeeded in finishing this movie against all opposition is good enough to shout "Bravo!" Whatever disagreements one could have with him - and we have a right to disagree in this wonderful country, for which there is no need to apologize - no one can take away what he has accomplished. Now there is a counterweight out there against all the garbage and drivel that has been filmed or written about Cuba the past 47 years. And if The Lost City acts as a catalyst to encourage others to tell the story of the real Cuba under kaSStro, so much the better!
The "usual suspect" critics may be panning it because they are afraid - rightly so - the movie tarnishes the images of their false gods kagaSStro and che(ckmated) huevera. And there ain't a DAMN thing they can do about it. Remember the critics' predictions of doom regarding Mel Gibson's re-telling the Christ story? We know who had the last laugh there. So will Andy Garcia.
I am going to reply here to a question Ziva sent in private (I hope she does not mind).
She asks why does SHE know more about Cuban history that 99% of academia and 100% of the assholes who are reviewing the movie "the Lost City"
My quick and flippant answer to that could be “There are people who said the Holocaust did not happen”
THAT in itself can give you an idea of the stupidity of humanity
History is written by the winners and you COULD say KaSStro won that ROBOLUTION (Yes CB it was a ROBOLUTION , and it is well known within the Gulag as the ROBOLUTION)
Whatever the fuck intensions of KaSStro had nothing to do with poverty or a mass upraise of the downtrodden. Because the Guajiros in Cuba were MORE than happy to live as they did . Their happiness was to live a simple live, not to have color TV. In fact when the infamous agrarian reform was put into effect a lot of guajiros looked at the land they had just been given and asked “whatta fuck do *I* do with this”. Picture youself being given a 500lb gorilla as a present and you get the idea.
This I lived first hand where workers at a ranch of a friend BEGGED the owner not to leave and to please take back the land. The ROBOLUTIONARY solution was to take the lands back and form communities, so as of TODAY – NO Cuban OWNS land of any type! But this has NEVER made news in the USA press!
Now, have these professors and intellectuals kept up with the reality of what is Kuba , or are they still entangled in the Robin Hood fantasy of 1959.
The USA media bought a pack of lies added a coat of delicious frosting and sold it to the American people. The 50s were the most boring decade in the history of the USA so ANY news sold papers and if this amazing social experiment towards a perfect society was taking place 90 miles from the USA , well god damn , how many papers did THAT sell ?
The other side of that is that Cubans leaving the Island en masse were too busy trying to make a buck to debate the lies. The fact that “Cantinflas” goes to the UN and shamelessly admits to killing men and women en masse and noone opens their fucking mouth is a sign that the world was not even paying attention. An Island in the Caribbean with 8 million people?? WHO CARES!? The same thing that happens when millions of people are dying in Africa of malnutrition, sickness and warlords chopping heads with lawn mower speed. WHO CARES?! It aint happening to me .. so fuck THEM.
And that total lack of care on the part of the world alongside a superb job of propagandist lies has been perpetuated throughout history and with each left wing motherfucker that graduates with a teaching degree the lie grows and is passed down to their students. Just the fact that we owe the concept of political change through terrorism to KaSStro seems to be ignored by EVERYONE!
H. Fontova reminded me yesterday that KaSStro called for two General Strikes while he was on La Sierra
“STRIKE BROTHERS & SISTERS DO NOT GO TO WORK ON DAY X AND BATISTA WILL FALL DOWN”
Well , noone pay a fuck of attention and Cubans went to work as they would everyday . Of course at the failure of his call for a strike KaSStro would use the VERY failure as an weapon against Batista saying that the OWNERS the RICH had threatened the workers.
And herein lies this pricks power, he has a plan for anything he does whether he wins or looses.
And we underestimate that capacity which is indeed AWSOME. As I have said, we play checkers against KaSStro while he’s playing Grand Master class chess against the world AND to top it off he CHEATS.
In La Habana we didn’t even pay attention to KaSStro, we knew of some lunatic up in La Sierra but NEVER did we think that he would come down victorious. That Victory is the responsibility of MANY people. From Batista himself to all his cadre of incompetent, traitors to the soldiers who refused to fight, not out of conviction but out of sheer fear. No soldier in Cuba signed up to FIGHT. Cuba was a country without any inner our outer struggles . A prosperous country becoming more prosperous each day . The soldiers signed up to earn 67 dollars a MONTH ! When the time to really fight came about they all said “Fuck this I am back to La Habana and keep my job as an accountant.
But was this EVER documented, and if it has been documented , has it ever been reviewed. One of my least favorite people in the world , Luis Ortega in his book “Yo soy el Che” against CHE & KaSStro wrote that Che-ntinflas had personally ordered the execution of 1897 men and women.
How many USA journalist pick this up and went, “wait a second, this guy is a monster” Although Ortega had a pro-KaSStro period he has had some kind of epiphany ( Kasstro’ s check provably bounced) and is again speaking out loud about the terror with which KaSStro descended on the Cuban people.
But as Andy Garcia’s movie clearly proves , those with a pre-determined agenda and pre-set ideas of what Cuba was before KaSStro will NEVER change their minds.
To them Cuba had to be a den of vice, abuse and social strangulation , because the New York Times said so. The fact that Cuba was a thriving , peaceful happy well educated prosperous TOTALLY integrated country, means shit to these despicable assholes.
Let us remember we did NOT have signs in any bus in Cuba that says “ Blacks to the back” or “No Blacks allowed” THAT most simple example will tell you what kind of country Cuba was in 1958. My mom used to say “no hay ciego mas malo que el que no quieere ver” (There’s not blind man worse that the one who does not want to see) and All of these blind men and women are being blinded by the reality of what Cuba was and that the ROBOLUTION was not a social or economic necessity but just a whim of a few special interests groups (specially in the USA) and for that we have suffered and endured this oppression for 47 years. That is why I say that we MUST all of us who do something about Cuba , with absolute verfor defend the REALITY of what “Lost City” portraits and that as often as possible refute any asshole who knowing NOTHING about our history DARES deny thta the movie portraits the reality that was Cuba beferore Satan himself shrouded it in a cloack of darkness.
ñoo asere you have to start a news live show with charlie bravo as your anchor man,and what job you got for toco in the newsfeed room?
LOL
I would have the FCC after my ASS 24/7 or the show would be a constant "BLEEEP", but hey sometimes the only way of saying something DOES require a well placed FUCK YOU !
I wish that some of our goverment mockity-mucks learned THAT lesson.
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