PHOTO PROVIDED Pictured are the Borrego brothers and Alpert on their small farm outside of Havana. From left to right; Cristobal, Gregorio, Jon Alpert and Angel.

Cuba and the Cameraman is a documentary about life in Cuba over the course of 45 years, giving detailed accounts of the early 1970s, 1990s and leading to the death of Fidel Castro in 2016.

This film was directed by Jon Alpert and first shown at the 74th Venice International Film Festival, later released as a Netflix original in 2017. David Meneses edited the film from over 1,000 hours of Alpert’s footage — cut down to run for only 114 minutes.

During Alpert’s visits to Cuba throughout the years, he met with three Cuban families and recorded their unique perspectives on Cuba’s socio-economic and political changes throughout the years.

I’ll admit that documentaries are not typically my area of expertise — this one was pushed onto me as a class assignment during the pandemic. But when I began to play the film for that class, I was immediately enraptured in how the stories were all told.

Alpert didn’t just focus on those at the heart of the issue — namely, Fidel Castro and all those involved with his presidency — he followed everyone in between. The ones you wouldn’t necessarily think about during a documentary like this — the farmers and everyday individuals just trying to get by.

Unlike most documentaries, this one feels distinctly human in the way it offers a glimpse into four decades of history. It allows the viewer to see changes in culture as the times change, and the heart-warming camaraderie earned over decades of visitation. It’s immensely satisfying to see stories play out and learn just how each family changes over the course of 45 years.

The documentary starts at the end — with Castro’s memorial service. The viewer, at the beginning, isn’t aware just how much things have changed during Alpert’s time. He remarks at one point, after seeing a little girl with a cell phone at the memorial, “When I first came here cell phones weren’t invented.”

From that comment, it transitions into a description of what the film will be about, “I’ve been coming back for five decades, making friends with everybody and trying to tell the story of Cuba.”

It was an incredibly interesting choice by Meneses to edit the film to show the end result before the progression to get there — getting to see Cuba without Castro before you see Cuba during Castro. The cut from 2016 to 1970 should have been jarring, but it only manages to peak the viewer’s interest.

My favorite parts of the whole film were when Alpert would go back to the small family-run farm he’d stayed at in the beginning of his journey. When he would be greeted by those farmers as old friends and tell their stories. It was heartwarming to see their relationship grow over the years.

A good portion of this documentary is in Spanish, but includes English subtitles.

Though the documentary only got a B+ rating from IndieWire, I would give the documentary an A+. It offered a wonderful glimpse into the lives being affected by political upheaval.

“Cuba and the Cameraman” is rated TV-14 and can be viewed on Netflix.

——

Breanna Hanley is a Staff Reporter for The Express.