MYOFNF #12: I am Cuba (dir. Mikhail Kalatozov, 1964)

Ya'll know I'm a big fan of long tracking shots, and this Soviet-Cuban co-production from the early days of the Castro regime is made up almost entirely of long tracking shots, and hypnotically powerful ones at that. What's interesting about this film is that it is a piece of pro-Castro propaganda, but at the same time the vignettes meant to illustrate the injustice of the Batista years are genuinely emotionally involving. Even though Kalatozov's vision is political, he focuses intently on his human subjects. I'm amazed that a movie made by the bloody Soviet Union ten years after the death of Stalin can grasp of how to make a film with a political agenda while still creating moments between people that feel genuine. Yet, every chuckleheaded Hollywood knob who has tackled the Iraq war has ended up creating a bloodless, didactic mess. Hopefully Kimberly Pierce's Stop-Loss will break that trend.