Homeland or Death (2011 film)

According to the director, the presence of a visa-free regime between Russia and Cuba is not a guarantee that a person with a movie camera will be allowed on Liberty Island . Seeking permission, the authors of the picture submitted an application to the Cuban embassy that they plan to make a film about the participants of the dance ensemble rueda de casino . The process of processing all the documents took almost six months. But even after obtaining admission to the country, the film group periodically experienced difficulties with the Cuban authorities, who closely watched the shooting ^[1] .

“Homeland or death” is a story exclusively for oneself. This is a diary for personal use. There is a certain amount of cunning in these words, because I, having written this diary, reflecting my doubts, complexes, feelings, gave it to the publisher and am going to show this picture wherever I will be invited with her.

- Director Vitaly Mansky ^[2]

The film is a chain of everyday sketches showing the lives of people whose childhood and youth coincided with the victory of the Cuban revolution .

• A woman tells a dressmaker that after the death of her husband, she brings up three daughters, and therefore she needs a discount on sewing dresses. The seamstress goes to meet the widow and agrees to cede 80 pesos .
• In the school yard there is a morning ruler - the Cuban flag is raised, the children sing the anthem in unison. The teacher recalls that the school is named after the leader of port workers Aransebio Iglesias Diaz, and asks the pioneers to learn three of his main ideas for the next lesson.
• A middle-aged dancer lives together with a disabled mother. She says that to buy a ball gown, she traded on the street for three years. Now her salary is 120 pesos, while a loaf of bread costs 10 pesos. The woman lists which foods are monthly set according to social standards: 7 pounds of rice per month, 1 packet of coffee, 2 pounds of dark sugar, 1 tube of toothpaste, half a pound of vegetable oil, 1 packet of salt, 1 pack of light cigarettes and 3 packs of strong. In addition, mothers with her diet can be purchased with 3 pound chickens.
• A small factory has weekly political information . Workers listen to a lecturer who reads them an editorial from the newspaper Granma . The article says that the US government accuses Cuba of terrorism, and the inhabitants of Liberty Island support the position of their Foreign Ministry.
• The Cuban is worried about her daughter, who is 15 years old. In their country, the law is harsh in relation to parents raising children poorly. And if her girl goes to the Malecon embankment to communicate with foreign tourists, then she will not punish the teenager, but the mother.
• Street line to the grocery store. People are talking about the fact that now, instead of fish, you can get chicken and that some people used the quota for eggs in December.

• An elderly man has already reached retirement age, but does not want to relax. He is a delegate to the assembly of people's power, his task is to monitor compliance with legislation in enterprises. Upon learning that poor-quality bread has been brought to a nearby cafe, he goes to the bakery to find out whose shift has violated the technology.
• The participants in the Kasino Dance Ensemble talk about the philosophy of salsa and about their students, who come to Liberty Island again and again for the sake of Cuban rhythms. One of the participants - the one-legged dancer - dreams that one day he will be noticed, invited to work, and then his whole world will see his performances.

Film critics reacted quite vividly to Vitaly Mansky’s tape. So, the correspondent of “ Rossiyskaya Gazeta ” Irina Korneeva found in the film a roll call with the picture of Stanislav Govorukhin “ You can’t live like that ”, transferred to Cuba ^[3] .

The representative of the Arthouse film company Denis Kryukov praised the director’s ability to work “in large strokes and confidently” ^[4] .

Reviewer Anton Kostylev ( Session magazine) saw in the film “a reflection of the USSR of the late eighties tilted into the Caribbean ” ^[5] .

For Zara Abdullaeva ("The Art of Cinema "), the "panorama of everyday life" presented in the film became a social portrait of modern Cuba ^[6] .

At the same time, Lidia Maslova ( Kommersant ) called the film "Homeland or Death" a "tourist memoir." Her impressions of the film were limited to the remark that the director Mansky “had a great time filming in Cuba and captured on film a fair amount of cubes with good figures, vintage Cadillacs , textured blacks, picturesque rubbish dumps and dumps” ^[7] .

The author has compiled from the chronicle a completely "game" plot, where there are "characters and performers." Ordinary Cubans, shoemakers, saleswomen, tramps, cemetery workers, and even homeless cats and dogs live like they live, but they play, they become a little different - in endless dance, in self-talk, in conversations with neighbors, in a squabble with the conductor.

- film critic Nina Zarkhi ^[8]

The film was shown to the Cuban ambassador to Russia, after which the producer of the film, Gennady Kostrov, began to negotiate on how to organize a film rental on Liberty Island. According to the producer, he would be happy if “Homeland or Death” reached the Cuban audience ^[9] .

At the end of 2012, the Non-Fiction Film Guild rated the demand for documentaries on a special scale, taking into account international festival distribution. The film "Homeland or Death", which received 40 points for foreign hire and 3 for a nomination in " Nick ", took 6th place in the list of 199 films ^[10] .

• Director - Vitaly Mansky
• Script writer - Vitaliy Mansky
• Producer - Gennady Kostrov
• Operators - Leonid Konovalov, Vitaly Mansky
• Installation - Maxim Karamishchev

• Sergio David Calsado, “Da Caratula” (a group of Sergio David Calsado and Su Charanga Abanera)
• Yadam Gonzalez, Jorge Gomez, La Rueda de Casino (Moncada band)
• Carlos Lueblo, Forever (Moncada band)

• Kinotavr Festival (2011)
  • diploma of the Guild of film critics and film critics
  • nomination "Grand Prize"
• International Film Festival in Krakow (2012) - Youth Jury Prize
• Film award " Nika " (2012) - nomination " Best non-fiction film "

• The film "Homeland or Death" on IMBd
• Page of the film on the website of the company “Vertov. Real movie "
• Review in the Italian edition of Close-up