A haunting drama from Cuba—which the government has suppressed at home—Santa & Andrés is set in 1983, during one of the periodic crackdowns on citizens who are out of step with Fidel Castro's ideological purity. Santa (Lola Amores) is an emotionally bottled-up farmer who follows the harsh party line about the country's ongoing "revolution," in part for her own survival. She is given the ridiculous task of sitting on a wooden chair outside a ramshackle concrete hut that is home to Andrés (Eduardo Martinez), a gay novelist who has survived prison and torture. The reason: some kind of party conference is going on for three days, and international journalists will be in the country. The government doesn't want Andrés near them, so Santa is tasked with watching and making sure he doesn't go anywhere. Frosty, sour, and robotic, Santa does her job dutifully while Andrés goes about his business, but a storm finally drives a soaked Santa inside his shelter, where the slow process of developing a bond begins. That friendship between two damaged people yields trust, empathy, and enlightenment—subjective human qualities that have little place in a totalitarian society where partisans are rewarded for destroying others. Writer-director Carlos Lechuga's Santa & Andrés is a deeply moving film driven by a complex yet loving relationship between two passionate individuals living under the radar of monsters. Highly recommended. (T. Keogh)
Santa & Andrés
Breaking Glass, 105 min., in Spanish w/English subtitles, not rated, DVD: $19.99 Volume 33, Issue 2
Santa & Andrés
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