| 19/03/2021 – 07:36 (GMT-4)
Film critic al Granma, René Pérez Betancourt, attacked this Thursday from the body of the Central Committee of the Communist Party against PLANTING, the film by Cuban director in exile Lilo Villaplana, which addresses the history of political prisoners of Castroism who, since the 1960s, have refused to wear the regulatory uniform and have asked to be recognized as political prisoners.
Film premiere at Miami Film Festival, where he received the Audience Awardand also in Havana, where she could be seen in various headquarters of human rights activists, she made an impact that the official press did not want to ignore.
In the note published by Granma, Pérez Betancourt qualifies PLANTING of “bodrio” and states that he joins the “subversive campaign against Cuba, presenting a propaganda and a one-dimensional image of the subject he deals with, without referring to the causes – not a few of them criminal – that led those men to prison. “
The critic also compares the film to a production by Andy García and Guillermo Cabrera Infante The lost city (released in 2005), which he describes as “infamous”, and I recall Vilaplana’s criticism at the Miami Film Festival for not giving enough importance to the film.
“Within 24 hours, the film was posted on social media, something unusual for a premiere and expensive film, which should continue to be shown at festivals around the world to try to sell and raise funds,” adds Pérez Betancourt, ignoring recent complaints from his director about this, which affected him financially.
The official critic also refers to the “vain dream of the filmmakers to believe that they have billed an opposite magnum, able to respond – as they said – to what was exposed in The wasp network (Olivier Assayas, 2019), a film that revolted them by presenting true heroes opposed to the orders of the empire. “
On the devastating movie reviews he received The wasp network, Pérez Betancourt does not say a word.
The movie PLANTINGMeanwhile, he provoked emotional reactions among Cubans on the island and in exile.
young people such as Cuban activist Lázaro Mireles, or chess player Lázaro Bruzón confessed shocked by the dramatic dimension of the events narrated by the film, whose screenplay was in charge of Ángel Santiesteban, Juan Manuel Cao and the director himself.
“I had already seen some documentaries on this subject, even so the film is another level. What value do those men have when they face so many injustices and violence against them. The biggest proof that everything that happened happened is the real protagonists. which many still live and leave at the end validating each argument “, Bruzón wrote in a post on Facebook.
From the island, the scientist and activist Oscar Casanella recently thanked Lilo Vilaplana, Ángel Santiesteban and all the people who participated in making this feature film.
“Above all, thanks to those heroes who were political prisoners in those years when political repression was brutal and there was no internet or a way to get information from Cuba. Thank you to those who never gave up, who with their example have inspired many other Cubans to continue the fight for Cuba’s freedom, “Casanella said on social media.