Habana Blues

Havana Blues (Habana Blues) is a 2005 Spanish and Cuban film by Benito Zambrano which tells the story of two young musicians in Cuba. The film revolves around their music and contains criticism of problems in Cuba such as poverty and electricity outages. It was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival. The two musicians, Ruy and Tito (Yoel and San Martín), whose music is a mix of traditional Cuban music and more modern music such as rap, get a chance at an international breakthrough through a Spanish record company, but they would have to change their Cuba-themed lyrics to cater to an international audience. Ruy considers this a betrayal of his country and his art, whereas Tito recognizes the financial necessity of it. At the same time, Ruy is dealing with the fact that his children and their mother Caridad (Sierra) are leaving for the United States. Art versus commerce, nationalism versus globalism, and communism versus capitalism are some of the themes of the film. Cast Alberto Yoel - Ruy (as Alberto Yoel García) Roberto San Martín - Tito Yailene Sierra - Caridad Mayra Rodríguez - Lucía Ernesto Escalona - Carlitos Marta Calvó - Marta Roger Pera - Lorenzo Osvaldo Doimeadiós - Ruber Zenia Marabal - Luz María Laris Vega - Betty Jorge Alí - Nelson (as Jorge Ali Pérez) Félix Pérez - René Aurora Basnuevo - Estrellita Tomás Cao - Álex (as Tomás A. Cao) Giordano Serrano - Giordano See also List of Spanish films of 2005 List of Cuban films