.jpg "Escene of Habanastation")
Escene of Habanastation
Coinciding with its release in Havana´s theaters, Habanastation has already won its first award in Minnesota´s Traverse City Film Festival.
The film´s success amongst all (children, adolescents, adults and elders), is indisputable, to the point that I know people who have seen it several times; the lines to the theater never diminish.
In my opinion, these positive results are due to several factors: the film awakes varied emotions, it´s moving, it makes you laugh, cry —always respecting the audience, their intelligence and conviction— and even provokes dancing in the film´s final minutes. In a recent interview, director Ian Padrón confessed, "I´m sincerely content to fill the theaters and video halls, excited for the public to see it. My best prize will be feeling like I did when I was a kid watching my father Juan Padrón´s work in theaters, and everyone enjoying his films. From him, I inherited respect for the public and his rigor of telling a story."
And obviously, he´s done just that. Plus, and this is key, the film does not discover one single reality, one single Cuba, rather the various truths and complex Cubas, which coexist (and also confront one another) in this moment on the island, no longer isolated, but embedded in the web of a globalized world, with which we identify audiences, their strengths and weaknesses, given our own singularity.
I think Habanastation´s core content exalts reciprocity and rejects repeal, hostility and cruel exclusion, as an ideal for real life. Why not? This could be among Cubans everywhere, leaving behind disagreements and contradictions, a healthy and necessary integration process, of which most of us dream.
In regard to the formal elements — acting, filming, music, etc.—, they all worked effectively, supporting Padrón´s transmission or messages, in a harmonious way, without stridency. Habanastation is also liked for being a simple film, yet very well done; it is well executed, entertaining you but also making you think, as it´s very emotionally touching…it leaves us an optimist, upbeat.
Finally, a film that we Cubans deserve, and that we will still be talking about. If visiting Havana, there´s still time to see the virtuous Habanastation.
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