Benjamin Murray/Alysa Nahmias / US / 2011 / 86mins
As the Occupy movement continues to echo throughout modern society, it’s easy to believe its long-term effects may stretch far into the 21st century. Ripples of the 1959 Cuban revolution are still felt today, seen in the ongoing U.S. embargo. Benjamin Murray’s documentary about the still unfinished attempt to build the world’s best art schools in Cuba is an encouraging yet tragic tale of corrupted ideals and financial dependence.
With the project starting in 1961, the original ethos of the revolution i.e. society over opulence, was embodied by Castro and Guevara’s idea to build the art schools on a luxurious and previously exclusive golf club. Interviews with the architects and enthusiasts of the complex express the jubilation felt at its construction, emphasising the importance of creativity to the Cuban people. Continuing political difficulties, optimised by shots of the structures strangled by weeds, nearly turn this exploration of the post-revolutionary mentality into a despondent acknowledgment of the futility in bureaucratic restructure. However, the exhilarating soundtrack combined with the eternally upbeat attitudes of all those involved, instead turn this film into a declaration of hope for all counter-plutocratic organisations. Because, despite the development’s incompletion, its existence has not only inspired generations of Cuban artists, but has become a symbol of what can be achieved without capitalism’s gluttonous and corruptive assistance.