With Fidel Whatever Happens
Con Fidel pase lo que pase
“I wanted to make a film that reflects this zeitgeist, the last phase of ‘Fidelism’.” — Goran Radovanović
Producer: Jesenka Jasniger
Photography: José Manuel Alguacil, Cláudia Alves
Editors: Andrija Zafranović, Maja Kokić
In Spanish with English subtitles
Blu-ray
Festivals: Amsterdam Documentary 2011
Several inhabitants of Sierra Maestra, Cuba, 850 km east of Havana, are observed as they go quietly about their lives the day before the national hoopla for the 52nd anniversary of the revolution. It takes a long time to achieve a little in lovely Sierra Maestra. A young man takes the better part of his day getting to his workplace on a remote mountain. The bus isn’t running, so he has to hitch a ride on horseback and wade through a river. A client named Vladimir Ilich Rodriguez is patiently waiting. A middle-aged couple with a public telephone in their modest house sit eavesdropping while a succession of visitors stop by to make their calls. The following day all will be caught up in triumphant celebration of the glorious revolution that’s left them living in a land consumerism forgot. Even the bull-horns that blast out ideological slogans on the big day are 52 years old. Elegantly framed at a respectful remove from its subjects, Serbian filmmaker Goran Radovanović’s sardonic picture of ‘the last days of Fidelism’ achieves a unique mix of compassion and irony. — BG
