Free Havana

Eliezer Perez Angueira directed this interesting documentary focusing on the precarious existence of gays and lesbians in Cuba. While anti-gay discriminatory laws were in place long before the Castro revolution, the overthrow of the Batista regime seemed to ignite a new era of homophobia (the weird revolutionary reasoning: homosexuality was a side effect of capitalism). Anyone who was suspected of being homosexual was sent to forced labor camps, and by 1971 employment for openly gay Cubans was limited to the arts and education. Many LGBT Cubans were able to escape the regime via the Mariel boatlift, but others refused to be forced out of their country and persisted in staying true to their heritage and identities. Free Havana interviews six LGBT Cubans, each with a distinctive personal story of hardship, rejection, and indefatigable perseverance. While some of the interview subjects prefer not to show their faces on camera, others speak defiantly of fighting back against an oppressive system. To some extent their efforts have paid off: in 2010, Castro personally apologized to the nation's LGBT population for years of state-sanctioned persecution. Although the documentary misses some significant aspects of the subject—including the country's initially harsh reaction to the HIV/AIDS crisis, and the impact of the groundbreaking 1993 Oscar-nominated Strawberry and Chocolate, which was the first Cuban film with a sympathetic gay central character—it provides a fascinating glimpse into Cuba's rocky evolution towards tolerance. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (P. Hall)