Filmed by Italian director Tommaso Santambrogio “Oceans are the real continents” in San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba, with a forged of non-actors enjoying equally named characters they’d a hand in shaping. We’re hardly in fly-on-the-wall territory right here; to quote one instance amongst many, few documentarians can be fortunate sufficient to seize a ceiling collapsing from heavy rain in a rigorously composed nonetheless shot. However the movie is just not pure fiction both.
The favored hybrid mode proves extra cryptic than instructive this time round. Oceans Are the Actual Continents bears a robust resemblance to Roberto Minervini’s extra thrilling What Will You Do When the World Burns? — one other case of an Italian director discovering uncooked materials in actual lives in North America. Each movies are shot in black and white and happen on parallel tracks.
One thread in “Oceans” issues Milagros, an aged lady who reads letters despatched by a beloved one, Miguel, within the Eighties from Angola, the place he served Cuban efforts to help that ideologically pushed authorities. His phrases are heard in a voiceover as he talks about eager for her throughout the ocean.
Elsewhere, two boys, Frank and Alain, are as much as numerous mischief, sneaking onto a baseball diamond at evening or roaming the railroad tracks, though there are hints that Frank’s household might quickly be leaving Cuba. And an inventive couple, Edith and Alex, battle with friction of their relationship whereas Edith, a gifted puppeteer, rehearses a puppet present and prepares to journey to Italy on tour.
All three tracks contain experiences of separation (cuts from the radio allude to Cuba’s issues with mass emigration), a theme that Santambrogio gently counters with a round construction. All 5 principals are seen for the primary time within the opening scene – a efficiency that includes Alex as Christ on the cross – and all are united in a stunning prepare station scene on the finish.
Oceans are the true continents
Not rated. In Spanish, with subtitles. Period: 1 hour 59 minutes. Within the theaters.
