I Am Cuba

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I Am Cuba

1995

2h 21m

Drama

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Popcornmeter

100%

Tomatometer

40 Reviews

91%

Popcornmeter

2,500+ Ratings

A study in contrasts set in and around Havana that explores Cuba's 1959 revolution. A young woman's fascination with the excess of an American-owned casino leads to her downfall in the eyes of her street vendor boyfriend. A tenant farmer revolts the only way he knows how, attacking the land he works. University students gain first-hand knowledge of political upheaval. And, in the hills outside the city, the members of a poor peasant family are patriotically swept up into the burgeoning revolt.

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Critics Consensus

Visually absorbing and formally audacious, I Am Cuba (Soy Cuba) opens a long-buried time capsule that has lost none of its captivating power.

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Ed Gonzalez

Slant Magazine

11/17/2007

4/4

I Am Cuba is a cinephile's wet dream, a collage of Herculean feats of technical wizardry that would be easy to dismiss if it wasn't so humane.

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Jonathan Rosenbaum

Chicago Reader

09/17/2007

Some of the most exhilarating camera movements and most luscious black-and-white cinematography you'll ever see inhabit this singular, delirious 141-minute communist propaganda epic.

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David Parkinson

Empire Magazine

12/30/2006

4/5

Politically nave maybe, but it works beautifully as straight cinema.

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David Harris

Spectrum Culture

11/13/2024

With Donald Trump set to return to power, I Am Cuba may be a difficult watch, especially for those unwilling to surrender their freedom to a self-proclaimed “strongman.”

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Michael J. Casey

Metro Arts

04/26/2024

4/5

Invigorating cinema.

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Mattie Lucas

From the Front Row

04/24/2024

4/4

One of the most extraordinary pieces of revolutionary propaganda ever produced, as vibrant and vital as anything the Soviets released during the silent era.

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Simon T

@MovieTart Jan 14

An unequivocal masterpiece: humane, technically astonishing, and deservedly celebrated. Several different stories - an abused young woman, an old sugar cane worker, a fearful young revolutionary and finally a poor farmer provoked by bombings into taking up arms - coalesce under the banner 'Soy Cuba': 'I am Cuba'. How appropriate that this extraordinarily beautiful and compassionate work should be directed by a Russian.

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Stephen C

@bob25009 06/08/2025

Success in 2 hours and 21 minutes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Dubbed and subtitled in worldwide studios!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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11/11/2021

The quotes, long shots, camerawork and script are the most powerful poetry of pictures that I've seen. 9/10

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03/08/2021

Though being an part of soviet propaganda undoubtedly, the film is so masterfully crafted and filmed it nevertheless brings a lot of thought and shows off the life of cubans of the period as it was probably never showed.

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Leaburn O

@RT35452347 01/09/2021

The three stars comprise an average of the five star cinematography, which is absolutely superb and the one star for content. It's woeful propaganda and only the first story has the power to transcend the transparently nonsense political message.

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s r

@ScottR 04/07/2020

Unique and special. Cuba under Castro and the things they highlight are neat. TCM

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Synopsis

A study in contrasts set in and around Havana that explores Cuba's 1959 revolution. A young woman's fascination with the excess of an American-owned casino leads to her downfall in the eyes of her street vendor boyfriend. A tenant farmer revolts the only way he knows how, attacking the land he works. University students gain first-hand knowledge of political upheaval. And, in the hills outside the city, the members of a poor peasant family are patriotically swept up into the burgeoning revolt.

Director: Mikhail Kalatozov
Genre: Drama
Original Language: Spanish
Release Date (Theaters): Mar 8, 1995, Original
Release Date (DVD): Sep 15, 2009
Runtime: 2h 21m