Film: Sons Of Cuba
Release date: 20th September 2010
Certificate: E
Running time: 88 mins
Director: Andrew Lang
Starring: Yosvani Bonachea, Cristian Martinez, Santos Urguelles
Genre: Documentary
Studio: Mr Bongo
Format: DVD
Country: UK
Sons Of Cuba documents the pupils of The Havana Boxing School as they are subjected to a physically demanding training regime. Despite having an average age of 8, the pupils are pushed to their very limits - told that victory in the sport is not just a matter of personal pride but of national duty.
Cuba, 2006 and Fidel Castro has just taken ill. Paranoia begins to spread that the Americans might try and attack while their beloved leader is incapacitated.
As their country stands on a razor’s edge, a group of young boys are being indoctrinated into athletic acts of violence. The boys are told that failing is not an option, and that far from being merely a sport, boxing is Cuba’s opportunity to show that their country is the best, and that the revolution was an unmitigated triumph.
While the film focuses on a larger group of boys, our main protagonists are Cristian, a boxing prodigy, Santos, a boy whose passion for pastries stands in the way of his boxing success, and Junior, lovingly referred to as Dalmatian because of the bald spots found on his scalp.
As the day of the Under-12’s championship approaches, the training becomes more extreme, the punishments more harsh, and it soon becomes apparent that the sport, far from being a simple matter of national pride, is actually becoming detrimental to the stability of the children involved…
Sons Of Cuba ignores the emotional bombast and political posturing of so many modern documentaries. The film’s resistance to caricature and moral absolutism allows us to emotionally engage in all the characters involved. It is this skill that elevates Sons Of Cuba from other films of its ilk, leading to a movie that has genuinely aimed for a balanced account of events, allowing for opinion; both political and emotional to form at the viewer’s digression. That’s not to say that what is shown is vacant - quite the contrary. Its ability to invoke an open-ended discussion is derived from just how rich the images are. We hate seeing these children being reduced to tears by their environment, but we are allowed no villain to pin the blame on. The coach is shown as a loving and gentle man, and Castro himself is a ghost, appearing as an image on the wall, a reflection on TV screen - a holy icon. With no scapegoat in sight, we are forced to concentrate on the matter at hand, which is the children, and the relationships that they form.
This refreshingly humanist approach is aided by Andrew Lang’s beautiful images. Storms forming over Cuba, ripples in the puddles outside, and close-ups of the boys crying all invoke emotional responses as multi-layered as the political issues they explore. Images of nature, water in particular, mix the threatening (the storm clouds) with the fragile (the tears), which culminates in the ring - little children as innocent and confused as any children being forced to unleash torrents of violence and choreographed abuse (these visuals allow us to see the politics as being almost inconsequential).
While Castro and the revolution are imprinted in every part of their culture it has become so second nature that it is given no great importance. The real tragedy here is the growing link between innocence and responsibility. These are boys that are being made to take on the reasonability of men, which is not just a Cuban problem, but a worldwide one. When Santos lies cuddling into his grandmother, it is a visual reminder that these people are just children, and it is to our shame that their youth is easily forgotten in the faux-maturity they have been forced to exhibit.
But Sons Of Cuba is by no means a tear-jerker. The images that stay with you after the film’s end are images of warmth. The boys comforting each other, mother’s crying with pride. Here we have a documentary that is all the more important for focusing not on a single ideological vantage point, but on the human experience.
A beautifully shot and well considered documentary that is as emotionally engaging as it is informative. Andrew Lang’s film exhibits a fragile beauty that is never allowed to indulge in the sentimental. A filmic experience not easily forgotten. AC
