Cubans React to Granma’s Critics of Netflix’s ‘La Madre’

Cubans reacted in the networks to the criticisms of the official newspaper Grandmother wing movie Motherreleased this month on the streaming platform netflix.

Users of Facebook And Twitter They left many comments on the article (which they removed from their website) which promoted the film starring American actress Jennifer López and part of the plot of which takes place in Cuba.

After criticism from the Communist Party’s official newspaper for showing a “different” country, a netizen commented that it was true that the film is “very far from the Cuba of today” because “a more appropriate setting would be the ukraine, a bombed country and a destroyed city, would be more like Havana.

A netizen also felt that Netflix reflected a non-existent country “because Cuba is a disaster, so they had to tune Gran Canaria a bit to reminisce about those good times.” If they had filmed it in Cuba, moreover, they would have had to change the name in honor of the freedom of political prisoners to ‘The Suffering of Cuban Mothers’”.

“They say that after two years of trying to stage Gran Canaria to recreate the scenes as if it were Cuba, it was really impossible. Experts said it was only by waging World War III that they could get closer to the real situation that Cuba finds itself in…”, reads a comment on Facebook.

Another user asked Granma “for decorum, to talk about truth, about reality and even to make history and talk about real heroism, to report on the harshest reality of Cubans. But that of the people, of the employee who no longer cares about being governed by a communist, a capitalist or a foreigner, who only cares about what he is going to feed his children”.

“It is incredible that this newspaper is dedicated to criticizing or simply talking about an entertainment film and that it is not able to see the disaster in which this mismanagement has led Cuba. Please do some journalism,” one user said of the newspaper article.

“I saw the film and yes, among other details, there is one that caught my attention: the streets with a speed indication of 40 km/h. In Cuba, the streets are a gray reality, like the drab, drab Cuba of today. I think the film favors it,” said a user.

One user pointed out that “they should be happy because in the movie they didn’t go to the real Cuba, falling apart; and not as far as Songo la Maya; In Havana itself, landslides are the daily bread, where the only nice thing to show are the hotels for tourists”.

“It’s certain! I’ve seen the film. The Cuba he recreates in his scenes is 20 times less deteriorated than the real Cuba, the huge lines of hungry and desperate people don’t come out to buy a little bit of something something not to die. The Cuba of today is sad, the real one. The other is only fiction, “considers a comment.

“NTV shows a Cuba that does not exist every day… and when will the article be?” concluded a surfer on Twitter, where they also stated that “Cuba no longer exists for many Cubans”.

The film Mother since its premiere it has attracted attention due to the places where it was filmed, since part of the plot takes place in Cuba, and not a few users of netflixthey wondered where the images representing the island were stored, which were filmed in Las Palmas de Gran CanariaSpain, as confirmed by a report from the magazine Hi after the premiere of the film on May 12.

The film exposes other places in Cuba, in particular the iconic image of the Havana promenade, although the aforementioned outlet did not say if it was actually filmed for this film, which recounts the vicissitudes of a mother to save her daughter from a gang of Cuban kidnappers.

In the feature film there are images of the city of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria with similarities to the historic districts of the Cuban capital, although a good eye observer and connoisseur of the city of Havana will realize that was not really filmed there.

However, the film uses different island settings to recreate those of Cuba, and among these is the Gabinete Literario building, a cultural institution for the creation and dissemination of artistic manifestations, as well as the management of cultural events in Las Palmas .

It also uses San Telmo Street, the historic district of Vegueta, as well as the neighborhood of San Juan, the city of Monte León.

Mother also includes performances by Joseph Fienne (The Handmaid’s Tale), Omari Hardwick, Lucy Paez, Gael Garcia Bernal And Paul Raci. The American thriller was directed by the filmmaker Niki Caro.

Netflix started shooting this movie in January 2022 and on this date it was announced that due to the requirements of the script, the streets of the Spanish city would be converted into Havana.

JLo also filmed scenes for the film in the Canadian city of Vancouver.

Mona Watkins

"Travel fan. Gamer. Hardcore pop culture buff. Amateur social media specialist. Coffeeaholic. Web trailblazer."

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