We get letters!

I get tons of email. It's part of the territory when you run several web sites and contribute to a couple of others. But I received a great email today. It's a response to a NY Times Movie critic's review of the Lost City (In Theaters Now!) that came to me courtesy of Chachi Novellas.

Mr. Stephen Holden
The New York Times

Re: The Lost City - Movie Review April 30 2006

If I may, Mr. Holden I strongly suggest you actually spend two hours in a theatre and actually pay attention to the movie you are critiquing, and this time do so without preconceived notions.

Frankly I realize expressing divergent opinions to a movie critic is a hopeless exercise in futility, and I would never engage in such an endeavor if you had not tinged your review with political rhetoric.

The movie I saw did not portray a Cuba in which everything was "peachy". The abuses of the Batista regime were well catalogued in the scenes and dialogue. As any person with any knowledge of history above junior high school knows a revolution does not happen in a vacuum.

Let's face it Mr. Holden your issue with The Lost City is that it presents a different view from your own, and the one perpetuated by your cronies, likeHerbert Mathews, who through articles in the late fifties created the erroneous mythical romantic public image of Fidel Castro. A myth perpetuated by The New York Times for the past forty plus years.

The Cuban revolution was not a peasant revolution as it is customarily represented. Most of the supporters of the 26th of July movement were from the Cuban middle class and university students. Not only did they actively participate in the resistance against the Batista regime but also supported financially the Castro insurgency. There was no "impoverished masses of Cubans who embraced Castro as a liberator". It was the Cuban middle class looking for a change in government who erroneously embraced Castro as a liberator.

Ask anyone who has lived under communist totalitarian regime about "buffoonish parodies of sour Communist apparatchiks barking orders" and you will find the portrayal in The Lost City is much too real.

As you may have surmised by now, I was born in Cuba and have been in the United States since 1961. The many poignant scenes and interaction of the Fellove family which you so blandly dismissed moved me to tears, as I relived experiences much too familiar to Cuban families. Whether you agree or not, The Lost City gives an accurate representation of the angst and troubled soul of the Cuban family and nation which continues to this day.

Lest you consider my knowledge of history of the junior high school variety I recommend you read "The Man Who Invented Fidel" a book by Anthony DePalma and a recent article by Andres Martinez the editorial page editor of the Los Angeles Times "They Can't Believe They're Still in Cuba" dated April 30, 2006.

Then take a good look at the smoldering eyes of Mr. Garcia and you will see the pain of the Cuban soul!

Respectfully,

Oscar B. Pichardo
Redondo Beach, CA 90278