Product Description

Studio: New Yorker Films Video Release Date: 10/10/2000 Run time: 104 minutes

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #28024 in DVD
• Released on: 2000-10-10
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Formats: Color, DVD, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: Spanish
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 104 minutes

Amazon.com
From the Cuban directors of Strawberry and Chocolate (Tomás Gutiérrez and Juan Carlos Tabio) comes a poignant romantic comedy with satiric bite. Yoyita is a famous singer who returns to the town of Guantanamo for a celebration in her honor. Reunited with her girlhood lover Candido after 50 years, she dies in his arms from overstimulation. The farce of returning her body to Havana for proper burial provides the vehicle for an easygoing yet incisive overview of contemporary Cuba and a lighthearted admonishment to live for the moment. Yoyita's niece Gina, who is a former professor of economics, and her tyrannical husband, who is the official undertaker for the remote province, make up the procession, along with the forlorn Candido. As the cortege makes its way toward the capital, Gina is given a second chance at love with a hunky truck driver while we become privy to the clandestine restaurants, abject road stops, and endless slogans that populate the hitherto underexposed Cuban countryside. --Fionn Meade

Customer Reviews

Shoulda won an Oscar.
This is an excellent movie, full of subtleties and innuendos as well as forthright commentary. As with everything Cuban, you can't escape the political: in fact, it is the political which provides the backdrop in this film. When the man in charge of a funeral home in Havana proposes a new system (with his own political goals in mind) for transporting the deceased to their final resting place, he sees his plan put to the test when his wife's aunt passes away--on the other side of the island. His efforts to accomplish her move back to Havana--and his funny and ultimate failure to do so--provide the social commentary on what happens to the brightest ideas when undertaken under a dogmatic system. It also provides the parallel for the movie's dramatic subplot: his wife's misgivings about her choices in life--marrying her current husband, leaving her teaching job, etc. As we see her marriage fail along the way (along with her husband's plan), and a new love enter her life, we begin to understand the message: sometimes it is individuality--and not the common good of the revolution--that affords the best solution. The script was wonderful, the acting superb, the editing on the mark. At turns funny, sad, academic, farcical, the movie should have gotten an academy award. But alas, it hails from Cuba, and what a pleasant surprise to see such a high quality--and self-critical-- product come out of there.

A "gringo" who loves this flick!
This week I saw "American Beauty" at the movie theater and then, for the second time, the video of "Guantanamera". Very different flicks...one set in suburban America and the other in the countryside of Cuba. However, there is a common theme in both of how couples, stuck in loveless marriages, finally learn to change their fates. While "American Beauty" is the better movie, there is no doubt that "Guantanamera", undoubtedly shot on a very limited budget, is a gem of a film and well worth watching.

Respectfully disagree with one of the prior reviewer's comments that "gringos"..."cannot appreciate the movie". Well, any "gringo" over the age of 18 is going to understand the theme of "Guantanamera". Then, again, was the reviewer perhaps referring to "gringos" not understanding the depiction of officialdom in Cuba. Anyone who has dealt with a self important, controlling boss or govenment official, is going to understand the portrait of the real jerk of an official in this film. Without giving away the plot, the context of the movie is that a minor "apparachik" is dictating cross island burials by hearse relay...sounds somber but is really quite funny as the "master plan" falls apart. Add to this humor a great assortment of characters, beautiful love stories, and a wonderful Cuban music soundtrack, and you have quite a treat.

Gave a Great Laugh to A Cuban Family
When our family sat down to watch Guantanamera we all new the Cuban song from the beggining. Watching this was like going back to Cuba when we traveled across the land. Switching Cars people selling banannas, No road signs, just plain Cuba. The actors in the movie did a great job portraying Cubans. Because you may not believe that's the way real Cubans act, unless your Cuban, but it's what we are really like.

I rated this movie a Four Star because the movie has great laughs for "Cubanos y Gringos". All the irony with cars meeting, people dieing, well I don't want to ruine it for you. But Watch the Movie whether you buy or rent. You'll enjoy it!