DMovies - Your platform for thought-provoking cinema

Transit Havana

Director - Daniel Abma - 2016

"Dirty gem"
A social paradise for sexual diversity or an oppressive military regime? The life of transsexuals in modern-day Cuba is full of paradoxes - new documentary at the East End Film Festival in London reveals

Cuba is a country of stark social and political conflicts and paradoxes, and perhaps no one epitomises those contraditions better than the few transsexuals living in the country’s capital. Despite major advances and the staunch support of Mariela Castro Espín (Raúl Castro daughter), Odette, Juani and Malú they still face religious intolerance, discrimination, sexism, poverty and sometimes a life in prostitution. Meanwhile, they wait for surgeons from Belgium and the Netherlands to perform a much-coveted sex change surgery on them.

These transsexuals have to reconcile a number of forces in their lives: Catholic faith, the army, a dictatorship and prejudice. While washing the dishes, Odette explains that she is the most experienced tank operator in the nation. She is not referring to a kitchen storage appliance; she operates war tanks instead. She also has to battle her family who are reluctant to accept her choices. They strongly discourage her from engaging in the irreversible and life-changing operation.

These powerful characters are fighting to turn the religious and political argument in their favour. They believe that God loves them all the same, and that sexual revolution in intimately connected to values of their country. They claim: “there is no sexual revolution without social revolution”. This has strong echoes of Magnus Hirschfeld’s sexual research in Berlin after the German revolution in 1919, a century later. It is also is a major achievement. Decades earlier, Mariela’s uncle Fidel Castro actively persecuted homosexuals; he has now expressed regret and accepted the blame for such oppression. Now the Cuban government supports sexual diversity and even pays for the surgery of the most committed transsexuals.

In total, only 27 Cubans have undergone sex-reassignment surgery and there are 19 more on the list. On average, only five surgeries are carried out every year. This number might be small, but it carries a very strong social message. It’s not just the transsexuals that are being transformed. In reality, the whole country is transitioning.

Odette is elated when Raúl Castro and Barrack Obama signal that they will thaw the relations relations between the US and Cuba, which have been frozen for 56 years. She can now use the Internet and communicate with people in all parts of the planet. She feels liberated, and so does the rest of the country. Previously – and mostly due to the American embargo – , these people did not even have access to testosterone and transition drugs. The once ostracised and neglected nation is now opening up, and its proudly brandishing its trans community as a testament of its modernisation.

Transit Havana showed this week at the London East End Film Festival. You can watch the film trailer below:

.



"Dirty gem"

By Petra von Kant - 03-07-2016

By Petra von Kant - 03-07-2016

Petra von Kant is a filmmaker, critic and performance artist. She was born Manoel Almeida to Brazilian parents in 1971 in Bremen, Germany. Her parents were political refugees fleeing the military dict...

DMovies Poll

Are the Oscars dirty enough for DMovies?

View Results

Loading ... Loading ...

Most Read

Forget Friday the 13th, Paranormal Activity and the [Read More...]
Just a few years back, finding a film [Read More...]
A lot of British people would rather forget [Read More...]
Another year has gone by, and DMovies is [Read More...]
A small family of four lives in a [Read More...]
Pigs might fly. And so Brexit might happen. [Read More...]

Read More

Is 65 the new Jurassic Park?

 

Marina Hillquist - 28-03-2023

Marina Hillquist argues that the American sci-fi action thriller by the creators of A Quiet Place had the potential to unseat the monopoly of the Jurassic Park franchise, but it struggled to escape some familiar trappings [Read More...]

Riotsville USA

Sierra Pettengill
2023

Eoghan Lyng - 28-03-2023

American documentary conducts a probing investigation into one of the USA's most shameful moments in history, the Vietnam War, offering few answers but many damning insights - in cinemas on Friday, March 31st [Read More...]

Reclaiming Vincente Minnelli’s overlooked gem

 

Isy Santini - 25-03-2023

Not quite what it seems: Isy Santini takes a dirty look at Vincente Minnelli's Brigadoon and argues that the film - which most thought to be a musical - was in reality a horror piece! [Read More...]

Facebook Comment

Website Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *