Search This Blog

Tuesday, July 10, 2018

'Santa & Andres' DVD: Unlikely Friendship Between Gay Cuban Dissident and Loyal Party Babysitter

The Breaking Glass Pictures DVD release of the 2016 drama "Santa & Andres" perfectly illustrates the Breaking edge and the wave of period-piece films that depict outsiders in the context of recent historic events. The outsiders this time are the titular Cuban dissident gay writer and the loyal party member who is assigned to babysit him at a time that some of the eyes of the world are on their island nation. That event is a 1983 forum, and the assignment of Andres includes ensuring that Santa does not disrupt the proceedings.

The larger context that the written narrative prologue provides is that the immediate "reforms" include establishing camps for gay people, artists and others whose lifestyles are determined to be inconsistent with the principles of the new ruling class.. The rest of the story is the impact of the camps lingers after the release of their residents. 

This awesomely quirky film begins with (presumably) farmer's daughter Andres carrying a wooden kitchen chair up a mountain to the shack that Santa inhabits. She brusquely introduces herself, equally hostilely announces that she is going to sit guard during the aforementioned  forum, and makes it clear that neither of them ain't goin' nowhere until the event ends. All this apparently is despite Santa not expressing any desire to crash the party (pun intended), 

Of course, Stockholm Syndrome sets in on both sides as Santa makes overtures that are designed to alleviate physical discomfort of Andres, and she begins to believe that he does not pose any threat of rocking the boat.

A true turning point comes when Andres figuratively pulls a thorn from the paw of the lion. This rapidly speeds up the thawing out process and more fully shows the pair that neither is the enemy.

This leads to an evening of drinking at which Santa and Andres provide the other support when they experience separate traumatic moments. This empathy includes each person truly feeling the pain of the other.

That evening is even more fateful in that it sets the stage for the proverbial moment at which Andres must prove where her loyalties lie. The spoiler is that the outcome ensures that one of leads will end up with egg on his or her face. The better news is that "Santa" concludes with our newly enlightened where each of them seems destined to continue their lives.

The bonus feature this time is an insightful "Making of" documentary., 

No comments:

Post a Comment