Habana Blues

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Habana Blues (Havana Blues) is a 2005 Cuban film by Benito Zambrano, which is more about the music than the story of the two young musicians. The lyrics contain criticism of problems in Cuba like poverty and electricity outages, but the film also contains comments on such criticism.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The two musicians, Ruy and Tito, whose music is a mix of traditional Cuban music and more modern music like rap, get a chance at an international breakthrough through a US record company, but for this they have to restrict themselves to criticism of the Cuban utopia, because that sells better in the US and Spain. Ruy considers this cheap treason of his country, which he loves despite its shortcomings, but Tito understands the commercial imperative behind the plan - the US invest and want to get a return for their investment. Art versus commerce, nationalism versus globalism and communism versus capitalism are the themes in the film. Ruy starts using more traditional styles as an expression of his anxiety to leave the country he loves so much.