In 1962, John F. Kennedy cut off Cuba from trading anything on U.S. soil and restricted any Americans from traveling over to the small island (he was protecting us from a possible threat). Thirty years later and these restrictions have not only not been lifted, but they’ve also gotten worse. Large fines and jail time were in store for any American caught trading with Cuba or any foreign businesses in Cuba. (Bill Clinton’s much publicized method of cigar-use probably had a hand in the inflation of Cuban cigar sales.)
Our Crisis Cuba is a fictional short about a marketing agency’s conspiracy to possibly cause some serious harm to Cuba thirteen hours before the President is set to publicly lift the embargo sometime in the ’90s. But we need conflict for a movie, and that arises here when it’s discovered one of the agency’s own has been secretly dating an investigative reporter who now wants to expose the truth about their possible sinister plans.
Our Crisis Cuba is an interesting concept, but the short doesn’t carry enough weight or tension to keep the audience engaged. They try hard, but its unrealistic conversations are smothered with actors as talented as cardboard cutouts. To add to the low blow, the investigative journalist says things like “ginormous” when he’s describing something giant and enormous. This is just sloppy writing; journalists may not be perfect, but they’re very sparing and careful with their wordplay. If a writer seems moronic, he’s possibly lost his audience forever.
What’s strange about this short is not a whole lot is explicitly explained along the way, but when everything is finally spilled out, the exposition is overly dramatic and makes sure you really understand what’s going on. “You mean to tell me you’re going to do this and that and this is going to happen as a result!?” Moviegoers aren’t completely clueless and can understand history and context clues, especially when the intro to the film sets up the back story on Kennedy’s decisions to completely segregate Cuba.
This film’s intent may be to educate people on the still ongoing crisis with Cuba, but their ginormous attempt (see how obnoxious that word is?) is halted when their initial message comes across as flimsy and meaningless.
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